This is me Finding You
by Unknown-nin345
Summary: Re-vamped summary: Story starts right after Wave arc, but with some big changes. Read on as a simple song changes Naruto's life for the better. Pairing: NarutoxHinata, Eventual NarutoxHinataxTayuya.
1. Chapter 1

**Unknown-nin345: Hello readers. This is a small one-shot that I came up with when I heard my little brother watching the Disney movie: Camp Rock. After listening to a couple of the songs on the movie, an idea began to form in my head and I eventually came up with this: my first songfic. There will be fluff and OOC-ness. Takes place right after the Wave Arc.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or "This is me" & "I Gotta Find You" from the Disney Channel movie ****Camp Rock****. If I did then I wouldn't be writing this would I?**

Fourteen-year old, blonde-haired Uzumaki Naruto absentmindedly strolled through one of the many parks located in Konohagakure while the moon shone brightly in the starry canopy known as the sky. The blonde genin sighed and looked up at the shining stars above as if searching for answers to soothe his troubled mind. His team, if you could call it that, had just gone on a C-rank mission that had been upgraded by his 'sensei' to an A-rank due to what they experienced on their mission to Nami no Kuni.

First they had been attacked by two chunin-level nuke-nins known as the Demon Brothers; at first it had seemed like Kakashi-sensei had been killed, but the one-eyed jounin revealed that he had used the Kawimari no Jutsu after Naruto had been cut by one of the Demon Brother's claws and Sasuke had disabled the Brothers. It was then and there he had sworn to never run from anything, no matter the danger to himself, or be so afraid that he would be a hazard to the mission.

They then continued on with the mission with the next attack coming from the A-rank Kiri nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza. Kakashi had been trapped in a water prison by Zabuza after a couple minutes of fighting and had told the genin to take the client and run. Naruto, however, simply used his sensei's saying against him and teamed up with Sasuke (much as he loathed admitting it) and freed Kakashi from the prison. Their sensei then nearly killed Zabuza but was halted by the arrival of the zanbatou-wielder's accomplice, Haku, who was posing as a Kiri hunter-nin. Haku left with Zabuza while Naruto was forced to carry Kakashi who had collapsed from chakra exhaustion as the group continued to their client's house.

After Kakashi had recovered, the cycloptic-jounin proceeded to teach the three genin the tree climbing exercise. To be honest, Naruto had already known the exercise and was adequate at using it, but hadn't been able to focus his chakra properly since something else was on his mind. A couple days into the training Naruto had spent all night practicing the exercise and met Haku the next morning. When he had first seen Haku, Naruto thought she was the second-prettiest girl he had ever seen (and no, Sakura was not the prettiest in his opinion; in fact he sometimes wondered if the pinkette really was a girl) and had said as much.

Haku just laughed lightly and thanked him for his compliment. They then had a discussion about why Naruto was training so hard. He had said it was because he wanted to become stronger. When Haku asked why, the blonde said it was because he was tired of hiding who he was as well as pretending to be something he wasn't. Haku was silent for a moment before she said that it was her belief that true strength came from the want to protect someone or something precious to oneself. Haku left shortly thereafter, saying to Naruto that she hoped he wouldn't grow stronger for the wrong reasons.

A couple days later came the infamous battle at the bridge. After he had taken out two thugs that were attempting to run off with Tsunami, no doubt with less than pure thoughts towards her in mind, Naruto sped off to the bridge and once he arrived began to help Sasuke fight Haku while Kakashi was fighting Zabuza. It was during this fight that he had consciously called on the power of the Bijuu sealed inside him for the first time after Sasuke had been knocked out by Haku's sebon needles. Naruto proceeded to beat the crap out of Haku, but stopped when her mask broke apart and revealed just who Naruto was fighting.

The two of them had short discussion where they both revealed their secrets; for Haku, it was what drove her to the eventual meeting with Zabuza and for Naruto, it was the fact that he contained the Kyuubi no Kitsune. They both agreed that if the circumstances had been different then they could have been friends, and possibly more than just friends, however at that moment they both caught the sound of Kakashi's assassination technique: Chidori. Haku gave the blonde-haired jinchuuriki a kiss on one of his whiskered cheeks, and then she created an ice mirror and intercepted the jutsu with her own body.

Gatou and his thugs chose that moment to show up at the bridge and the short tycoon immediately insulted Haku once he saw that she had died. Naruto, who had arrived in time to hear the tycoon's words, turned to Zabuza and laid into the eyebrow-less man verbally. The nuke-nin was in tears by the time Naruto had finished his speech and asked the blonde for a kunai. Zabuza had somehow unwound his mouth wrap at this time and caught the kunai in his pointed teeth since both his arms had been made useless by Kakashi.

The Demon of the Mist then rushed into the large group of thugs and hacked, sliced, and slashed his way to Gatou all the while being stabbed by various weapons. He then cut off the tycoons arm and put several slices into the bastard's body before stabbing the short man in the neck. Gatou then stumbled backwards and fell off the bridge while Zabuza collapsed to his knees. What happened next was known only to Kakashi and Naruto since Sasuke was still out and Sakura was crying over his 'dead' body.

Naruto, who still had a little bit of the Kyuubi's chakra running through him, picked up Zabuza's zanbatou and spun twice before he let the large sword fly at the thugs. Said thugs were so shocked at seeing Naruto do what he just did that none of the thugs in the spinning sword's flight path got out of the way in time. The sword easily sliced through all the bodies in its path before its momentum was eventually slowed as it exited the crowd and skidded to a stop next to its still kneeling owner. The rest of the thugs promptly fled, especially since the villagers of Nami arrived at that moment.

Zabuza, whose last request had been to see Haku one last time before he died, and Haku were then buried by Naruto on a cliff overlooking the bridge. Naruto had decided to take Zabuza's zanbatou, Kubikiri Houchou, with him after he discovered how easily he could wield it. So he (with a little bit of help from Kakashi) sealed it into a scroll until he grew tall enough to where he could place the sword on his back.

A couple days after the battle, the bridge was completed and the Konoha-nins headed back home. When they arrived in the Leaf village, Kakashi gave his students the next day off to recover from the mission and unwind. So here Naruto was, wandering one of the parks as he thought over the mission as well as something that happened a couple days before the mission.

**~~ (Flashback) ~~**

Naruto sighed as he hopped through the trees. He was trying to blow off some of the frustration he was feeling from the seemingly interminable D-rank missions. He swore that if he ever had to go after that damn cat one more time, then something painful and permanent was going to happen to the feline.

The blonde stopped on a thick branch and leaned back against the trunk as he rested from his hopping. His ears twitched when they caught the sound of someone humming coming from nearby. He dropped down to the ground and crept closer to where he thought was the origination of the sound. Naruto paused when the humming abruptly changed to the sound of a gentle female voice singing.

_Do you know what it's like  
To feel so in the dark  
To dream about a life  
Where you're the shining star  
Even though it seems  
Like it's too far away  
I have to believe in myself  
It's the only way_

_This is real, This is me_  
_I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now_  
_Gonna let the light, shine on me_  
_Now I've found, who I am_  
_There's no way to hold it in_  
_No more hiding who I want to be_  
_This is me_

Naruto held his breath the entire time the words were sung and marveled at how beautiful it sounded. He began moving forward to see who was singing, but a small branch decided to side against him and cracked underneath his foot. The blonde shinobi heard a light gasp and sped up, but when he reached where he thought the voice had come from, there was no one there. Naruto was left to wonder if what he had heard had only been in his imagination as he dazedly made his way back to his apartment.

~~ (End Flashback) ~~

Naruto sat down on one of the benches lining the park path with a sigh and leaned back to look up at the stars. After a couple minutes of contemplative silence the spiky-haired blonde removed his orange jacket, leaving him in a plain black t-shirt, and looked down at the tattoo on his left arm. It was an intricately designed acoustic guitar with a couple miniature music notes surrounding it.

He then bit down on his finger and pressed the bleeding digit against the image of the guitar and in a puff of smoke, one appeared. The body was mostly a dark red color with black flames leaping up from the bottom with a similar design being painted on the neck and headstock. The guitar had been given to Naruto on his seventh birthday by the Sandaime as a hope to instill in the blonde some sense of discipline and that Naruto would learn that skill would come with hard work and perseverance.

Naruto hadn't understood the words at the time, but he immediately became hooked on playing and quickly learned the nuances of his acoustic. So, whenever he wanted to just have some time to forget about the world around him and its troubles, he brought out his guitar and strummed a couple songs. Before he could begin playing a song that he had been working on for a while now, a female voice spoke up from the path.

"Naruto-kun? What are you doing out here?"

The blonde looked up and saw Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, standing there dressed casually with a small blush decorating her cheeks. The lavender-eyed girl was wearing a light purple t-shirt, that accentuated just how much of an early bloomer she was, and matching pants that clung to her athletic legs and had a white line spiraling down them. Naruto was hopeful that the darkness would hide his blush from the girl standing a couple feet away.

You see, Naruto had known that Hinata had a crush on him, but he knew that because of what he carried she would mostly likely be shunned by the majority of Konoha's populace, not to mention what her family might do. So, he had chased after a girl whom he knew would never show any affection towards him in hopes of sparing Hinata the pain that would most likely come with being with him. But the blonde watched as Hinata kept her affection towards him and while she never said or did anything to him that would indicate it, Naruto knew how she felt towards him.

Naruto shook the mental cobwebs from his head as he said, "Uh, I was just about to play a song I've been working on for a while now. I think I finally got it right."

Hinata shyly looked down at her fingers and turned to go. "Oh, I guess I should be going then," she softly said.

The blonde swiftly stood up and grabbed her hand as he said, "No!" He realized what he just did and both of their blushes darkened as Naruto released her hand as he continued, "I-I mean, you can stay here and listen. I don't know if it'll be any good though." Hinata nodded and the two teens sat down on the bench. Naruto closed his eyes as he began strumming a moderately paced melody on his red and black acoustic before he started singing,

_Everytime I think I'm closer to the heart  
Of what it means to know just who I am  
I think I've finally found a better place to start  
But no one ever seems to understand_

_I need to try to get to where you are_  
_Could it be, you're not that far_

_You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing  
I need to find you  
I gotta find you  
You're the missing piece I need, the song inside of me  
I need to find you  
I gotta find you_

_Oh yeah_  
_Yeah, yeah_

_You're the remedy I'm searching hard to find_  
_To fix the puzzle that I see inside_  
_Painting all my dreams the color of your smile_  
_When I find you it'll be alright_  
_I need to try to get to where you are_  
_Could it be, you're not that far_

_You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing_  
_I need to find you_  
_I gotta find you_  
_You're the missing piece I need, the song inside of me_  
_I need to find you_  
_I gotta find you_

_Been feeling lost, can't find the words to say_  
_Spending all my time stuck in yesterday_  
_Where you are is where I want to be_  
_Oh next to you... and you next to me_  
_Oh I need to find you... yeah_

_You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing_  
_I need to find you_  
_I gotta find you (yeah)_  
_You're the missing piece I need, the song inside of me_  
_I need to find you_  
_I gotta find you_

_You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing_  
_I need to find you (I need to find you)_  
_I gotta find you (I gotta find you)_  
_You're the missing piece I need, the song inside of me_  
_I need to find you_  
_I gotta find you_

_Yeah, yeah... I gotta find you_

The blonde strummed out a couple more chords and slowly faded the song out. When Naruto finished singing he opened his eyes and met the pearl-like lavender ones of Hinata. Both of them just stayed like that for minute as they ignored the world around them, the only thing registering in each of their minds was how handsome/beautiful the other's eyes looked.

"That was incredible Naruto-kun," Hinata softly said. "When did you come up with it?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in a slightly embarrassed fashion as he answered, "Well…a couple nights before my team left on our C-rank mission I was doing a little tree-hopping. When I stopped to take a break, I heard some girl sing this really incredible song that got me thinking. I didn't finish coming up with the lyrics until close to the end of our mission."

With that he launched into telling her all that had happened on the mission to Nami no Kuni (minus the part about him using Kyuubi's chakra). He even brought out Zabuza's zanbatou and showed it to her, when the petite girl tried to lift the sword she nearly tore her arm out of its socket from the sheer weight of the blade. Naruto took it back and was confused when he was able to swing it around like it was a feather. With a shrug and a silent promise to do a little research as to why this was happening, he sealed the sword back into the scroll.

"Um, Naruto-kun there's this club that Kurenai-sensei brings me to sometimes. In it, if you want, you can sing a song and if you get a good enough reaction from the audience then the owner lets all of your purchases for the night be free of cost," Hinata softly said while looking down at her fingers. She brought her lavender eyes up to Naruto's cerulean ones and finished, "I think that your song would be more than good enough."

Naruto was silent for a moment before he asked, "Will you be there?"

Hinata blushed lightly as she nodded, "Kurenai-sensei is bringing me there tomorrow night at around seven since she's hinted that we might be taking our first C-rank the day after tomorrow. Does this mean that you're going to go?" When Naruto nodded the midnight-blue haired girl smiled as she wrote down the address. She handed it to him and stood up. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," she said and then did something she thought she would've never had the courage to do before now: she kissed Naruto on his whiskered cheek.

The shy girl's mind seemed to catch up with what her body just did and she turned neon red before making her way out of the park as Naruto called after her with a bright smile, "It's a date then!"

~~ (The Next Night) ~~

Naruto nervously stood in front of the club Hinata had told him about the night before. He had decided to change his outfit a bit, both in hopes that no one might recognize him and to look good for Hinata. The spiky-haired blonde was wearing a red jacket with black flames at the hem and cuffs to match his acoustic slung across his back with a black button shirt and black pants. Instead of his hitai-ate, he had found a black headband to keep his bangs from falling into his eyes. The clothes had been a gift from Iruka-sensei the day he had officially become a genin and Iruka had jokingly stated that they would probably be the only clothes Naruto ever have that weren't ninety-percent orange. He fiddled with his jacket collar before he took a deep breath and stepped into the club.

Meanwhile, inside the club, a nervous Hinata was anxiously awaiting her turn to step up to the mike. She peeked out from around the curtain and was easily able to spot Kurenai-sensei sitting at a nearby booth, but wasn't able to locate the one she really hoped would be in the crowd. The metallic blue-eyed girl (she was wearing colored contacts to disguise her heritage) was just about to drown in her rising depression when she heard her name called. She took a deep breath and steeled herself as she strode over to the mike, reminding herself that she had been practicing for the past couple weeks for this moment.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a blonde-haired boy with a red and black guitar on his back enter the club and felt her heart soar while a wide smile stretched across her face as she began singing. As for Naruto, his eyes widened as he immediately recognized Hinata's singing voice as the one he had heard that one night before he had gone on his C-turned-A-rank mission.

**(A/N: Hinata singing: **_Italic only._ **Naruto singing: **_Italic underlined._ **Both: **_**Bold Italic)**_

_I've always been the kind of girl  
That hid my face  
So afraid to tell the world  
What I've got to say  
But I have this dream  
Right inside of me  
I'm gonna let it show, it's time  
To let you know  
To let you know_

_This is real, this is me_  
_I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now_  
_Gonna let the light, shine on me_  
_Now I've found, who I am_  
_There's no way to hold it in_  
_No more hiding who I want to be_  
_This is me_

_Do you know what it's like_  
_To feel so in the dark?_  
_To dream about a life_  
_Where you're the shining star_

_Even though it seems  
Like it's too far away  
I have to believe in myself  
It's the only way_

_This is real, This is me_  
_I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now_  
_Gonna let the light, shine on me_  
_Now I've found, who I am_  
_There's no way to hold it in_  
_No more hiding who I want to be_  
_This is meeee_

Hinata took a small breath as she prepared to move onto the next verse but her eyes widened as Naruto grabbed a mike, stepped up onto the stage, and began singing as he walked over to stand in front of her; both of them with eyes only for the other._  
_  
_You're the voice I hear inside my head  
The reason that I'm singing  
I need to find you, I gotta find you  
You're the missing piece I need__  
__The song inside of me  
I need to find you__**, I gotta find you**_

By now, the entire audience was on their feet clapping to the beat of the song and generally cheering the two incredible singers.

_This is real, this is me  
__**I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now  
Gonna let the light, shine on me  
Now I've found, who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be  
**__This is me_

_You're the missing piece I need__  
__The song inside of me__ (this is me)  
__You're the voice I hear inside my head  
The reason that I'm singing_

_**Now I've found, who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be  
This is meee**_

Their voices faded away as the song ended with both of them still staring into the other's eyes. Naruto then wrapped an arm around the petite girl's waist and pulled Hinata up against his body before he claimed her lips with his own. The audience's cheers rose to a higher pitch as the two singers separated.

With a slightly goofy grin, Naruto asked above the roar of the crowd, "Will you go out with me?!"

Hinata nodded, her own goofy grin stretching her lips, as she shouted back, "Yes!" The blonde shouted in joy and swept the petite girl into another toe-curling kiss.

Chapter End

**Unknown-nin345: I hope you like the story; it's my first time doing a songfic so I'm a little nervous about it. I want to know something from you readers out there: should I make this into an actual fic or not? **

**If not, then I'll just post an epilogue that will take place seven years later. **

**If so, then here's a glimpse at the pairing: NarutoxHinataxTayuya. Bet that's got you all interested huh? Plus, each chapter will have one or two songs mentioned in some form...it is a song-fic after all. The epilogue though will only remain a NaruxHina. **

**Also, for those of you who will wonder why Hinata isn't a stuttering fainting mess, it's because I think everybody overdoes her shyness. Hinata rarely ever stutters or faints in the show/manga, usually only in really embarrassing moments that involve Naruto surprising her. Besides, I did say there would be OOC-ness.**

**Well what are you waiting for?! Push the blue button and review!**

** Song(s) of the chapter:**

** 'This is me', by Demi Lavato.**

** 'Gotta find you', by Joe Jonas.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Unknown-nin345: Hello and welcome to chapter two of my song-fic. **

**Hey all, I currently got a poll going on at my account for this story. I decided that, somehow (not sure yet), that Kubikiri Houcho (Zabuza's sword) is going to change to fit Naruto. Head to my account to figure out what the choices are.**

After their kiss-fest in front of the cheering crowd, Hinata led Naruto over to where her black-haired sensei was sitting, with said sensei sporting small smile on her ruby lips. The two teens sat down next to each other (Naruto setting his guitar down next to their seat) as the rest of the patrons went about their business. Naruto took this time to actually look at what Hinata was wearing since between listening to her sing and then joining in, he hadn't really noticed before now.

The lavender-eyed girl was wearing a black t-shirt underneath a tan vest that complimented the swell of her breasts without actually revealing anything. A black skirt with a blue wave-like pattern at the hem covered her legs to her knees and drew attention down to her creamy, shapely legs (Naruto gulped nervously as his eyes trailed down them). Finally, the midnight-blue haired girl only had the tiniest of makeup around her eyes and lips to enhance both features.

"So Hinata-chan, do you mind introducing me to your secret boyfriend whom you were recently kissing the living daylight out of?" Kurenai teased after a moment of silence.

Hinata and Naruto blushed lightly at the ruby-eyed woman's words as the lavender-eyed girl said, "Kurenai-sensei, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto-kun, this is Kurenai-sensei. She's our team's sensei and is the best there is at using genjutsu."

Kurenai just smiled at the midnight-blue haired girl, "I may be the best in Konoha Hinata-chan, but that doesn't mean I'm the best there is."

"I'm not really one to use genjutsu Kurenai-sensei so I wouldn't know either way," Naruto said with a shrug. At the questioning look from Hinata, and slightly miffed expression from Kurenai, Naruto explained, "My chakra capacity is simply too large for me to control it enough to use for any genjutsu. It's also why I failed to pass the graduation exam three times since the Bushin no Jutsu is a genjutsu after all."

Kurenai raised one of her black eyebrows at the explanation and asked, "Then what about the Henge no Jutsu? That's a genjutsu as well you know."

Naruto nodded with a slightly embarrassed expression as he said, "Well…uh, the both of you have heard about my Oiroke no Jutsu right?" The raven-haired beauty's expression darkened while Hinata nodded with a small blush. "That's my substitute for the Henge. Instead of using my chakra to create an illusionary appearance, I gather a lot and completely transform. It took me a long time to get it right."

"And just why did you see the need to look at naked women in order to learn how to do it?" Kurenai asked darkly since she had heard that the jutsu pretty much turned the blonde boy into a naked blonde woman (off to the side, Hinata's blush darkened slightly at her sensei's question).

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and frowned, "I've never seen a woman naked Kurenai-san. If I took away the clouds used for the jutsu, then there would just be blank areas where I'm sure the two most unmentionable areas for a woman are. All I did when I was developing the jutsu was look at swimsuit magazines. I designed the jutsu in order to stop the people, and it has worked on some women before, who'd be chasing me after one of my pranks so that I could get away. I promise."

Kurenai nodded since Hinata had told her that Naruto never went back on any promise he had ever made. "Forgive me for being skeptical Naruto-kun, but when you know that there are two perverts in Konoha, one of them who'll do anything to peep on women bathing in the hot springs; you learn to be cautious of men in general."

Naruto smirked and asked, "You mean Ero-sennin?"

"Who are you talking about Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with Kurenai nodding her head in agreement, although she had a good idea as to who was being referred to here.

The blonde snorted, "Most people know him as the great toad sage, Jiraiya of the Sanin. I just call him Ero-sennin because he peeks on women and writes those echi books Kakashi-sensei reads."

Kurenai tapped her chin in thought and said with a small smile, "That's a pretty good nickname Naruto-kun. I'll be sure to pass it along to the other kunoichi." She winked playfully, "You've redeemed yourself of any suspected perverted-ness Naruto-kun."

Hinata giggled lightly while the blonde pouted before she turned to Naruto and asked, "Are you still going to sing your song Naruto-kun?"

Naruto scratched his head and said, "I don't know. Is there a limit on how many songs you can sing in one night?"

"Normally yes young one," a voice spoke up from nearby. The three shinobi looked up to see an average-looking burly man with brown hair and eyes standing next to their table. He held out a hand and said, "Tatsumaki Hibiki, owner of this fine establishment, at your service."

Naruto accepted the hand and gave it a firm shake as he asked, "Uzumaki Naruto, sir, and what do you mean by normally?"

Hibiki withdrew his hand and explained, "What I mean is quite simple son. I heard yours and the little lady's," he paused to nod slightly at Hinata, "performance just a few minutes ago. To be honest, the crowd has never before reacted like they did for the two of you so I got to thinking and I think I might have come up with proposition for the two of you."

"And just what would that be Hibiki-san?" Kurenai asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hibiki just waved his hands in a 'no-worries' gesture. "No need to fret ma'am, it's really quite simple." He turned his attention to the two genin and said, "The two of you could come in every now and then to sing a song or two and, depending on the reaction of the crowd, I would pay you accordingly. Does that sound okay to you two?"

Naruto looked over at his metallic-blue-eyed friend and asked, "What do you think Hinata-chan? Want to go for it?" The midnight-blue haired girl was silent for a moment before she nodded her head. With a smile, Naruto turned back to Hibiki and said, "We'll do it. But, since Hinata-chan and I are genin, we're not going to be able to come in every night."

The brown-haired man simply nodded, "That's alright. Just come in whenever it suits you and we'll work out everything else. I hope you have a good night." He made to leave, but stopped and turned back to Naruto. "Oh, and you can get up there and sing whatever song it was the little lady mentioned. Don't expect to get paid though," he finished with a small smile before heading off to do whatever it is that store owners do.

Naruto grumbled good-naturedly a bit before he grabbed his guitar and made to make his way to the stand. Before he could take a single step though, he was spun around and found his lips attached to Hinata's. They both melted into the kiss and held each other until the need for air forced them to separate.

The midnight-blue-haired girl opened her eyes and smiled at the slightly dazed look Naruto was sporting. After giving him another peck on the cheek Hinata said, "Break a leg Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded with a slightly goofy smile and made his way over to the microphone. He pulled up a stool, pulled the mike closer, and said, "Uh, hey there everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the song me and Hinata-chan sang earlier. This next one is a little something that I came up with. I hope you all enjoy it." With that he launched into his song.

The crowd was a little bit more subdued this time around since the song was not as fast-paced as the other one. The couples in the crowd cuddled closer to their respective boyfriend/girlfriend as they listened to the words sung by the blonde.

Said blonde decided to make a last minute change to his song; when he reached the last line he looked directly into Hinata's eyes and sang, _"I think I've found you."_ A moderate amount of cheering and applause met the end of the song, making Naruto smile a rare true smile instead of his usual eye-squinting one.

He went back to sitting next to Hinata and talking to both her and the red-eyed woman, occasionally sharing a kiss with the midnight-blue haired girl. After a while, the three decided to make their way to their homes. Naruto walked Hinata back to the Hyuuga manor, both chatting about their teams and what they thought about them.

Hinata liked her team overall; both Shino and Kurenai were definitely nice people, and the Hyuuga heiress simply adored the cute, little Akamaru. However, there were times when Kiba could be…annoying, to put it nicely. The lavender-eyed girl told her new boyfriend how the Inuzuka would obviously stare at their sensei's breasts or butt and try to make seem like he wasn't, and also she had caught the boy staring at her whenever she would be bent over or out of breath (I don't think you need to be told why he'd be staring when she's trying to get her breath back).

Naruto was close to seeing red and heading off to neuter the overly horny Inuzuka before Hinata calmed him down by saying the Kurenai-sensei would always place the dog-boy into a particular genjutsu whenever he stared too long. They both shared a laugh as they imagined what the genjutsu mistress would come up with to deal with perverts. All too soon, the two teens arrived at the gates of the Hyuuga mansion and thankfully, the guards had gone to get something to eat which saved Naruto from being questioned by the guards.

The two were silent for a moment before Naruto sheepishly smiled and scratched the back of his neck as he said, "I had an incredible time tonight Hinata-chan, and I hope we can do it again real soon."

Hinata nodded with a small smile and blush, "I hope so too Naruto-kun." She paused a moment to gather herself for her question, "Do you want to go on our date tomorrow, or should we wait until I get back from my teams mission?"

"Well, we could meet up and grab some breakfast. Then we could just spend the rest of our time with each other until you leave for your mission," the blonde suggested.

"That sounds good Naruto-kun," Hinata agreed. She furrowed her eyebrows in thought before she said, "There's this tea shop near the central square called Makimaru's. Kurenai-sensei sometimes takes me there for breakfast."

Naruto smiled widely, "Alright then Makimaru's it is." He closed the short distance and wrapped an arm around the lavender-eyed girl's petite waist as he captured her lips with his. Hinata was startled for a moment before she relaxed and wrapped her arms around the blonde's shoulders as she reciprocated the kiss. The two were still novices in the ways of making out, so all they did was gently move their lips against one another's as they reveled in the warmth they felt as they kissed.

They pulled back slowly to stare into each other's eyes when Hinata suddenly blushed neon red. Naruto was confused as to why until he felt where his hand, which had stated out at her lower back, had ended up and he too blushed a dark red color. While he wasn't actually groping Hinata's…extraordinary butt, Naruto's hand was definitely close to doing just that. The two separated, both of them blushing bright enough to light up a dark room, and looked away from each other as they dealt with their own private thoughts.

'_Naruto-kun touched my denbu_**(1)**_! His hand felt so warm, and that's with me wearing these pants… I wonder what it would feel like if--no! No perverted thoughts Hinata, what would Kurenai-neechan say? Of course Anko-san would probably congratulate me on getting as far as I have with Naruto-kun.' _Her blush darkened slightly as she returned to the important thing, _'He touched my denbu!'_

'_Oh geez, I hope Hinata-chan doesn't kill me or pummel me. I know that Sakura would definitely have knocked me into next if she even saw what just happened. Still…Hinata's butt is soft, but firm at the same time. She's definitely no fangirl. I wonder if I'll get another chance to touch it,'_ Were Naruto's thoughts as his own blush spread a little bit while he felt a 'reaction' occur down in his pants at the thought.

They both managed to meet each other's eyes after a moment of silence, Naruto kept his fixed on Hinata's while the midnight-blue haired girl's darted down lower before coming back up to Naruto blue eyes. Both of them realized what Hinata just did and both of their blushes darkened a bit more.

After another minute of silence, Naruto spoke up. "I'm sorry about, uh, grabbing your butt Hinata-chan. I didn't intend for that to happen," Naruto apologized nervously.

Hinata shook her head as she said, "No, that's okay Naruto-kun. I've read and heard that couples do a little groping every now and then, and as long it's just the two of us then I don't mind." A mischievous smile spread across her face as the lavender-eyed girl channeled a certain snake mistress that she had met on occasions when she was with Kurenai, "But I think we should wait a bit before we decided to remove our clothing from the equation."

Naruto's jaw dropped slightly at the unusual statement Hinata just threw his way before his own smile slowly spread. "Who are you and what have you done with the sweet, innocent Hinata?" he asked, making both of them laugh lightly since it was slightly true. "But seriously Hinata-chan, I can touch your…?" he trailed off as he tried to figure out a way to phrase the question without seeming like a pervert.

Hinata hid a giggle behind one of her hands and finished the question, "Touch my denbu?" The kunoichi giggled once more when the blonde blushed and embarrassingly nodded his head. She stepped closer to him and gently laid a hand on one of his whiskered cheeks, making the blonde close his eyes when a comforting feeling stole over him. The blonde nearly missed his girlfriend's next words, "So long as it's just the two of us and no one is nearby, you can. We can worry about the other parts of my body later on. Is that okay with you Naruto-kun?"

He nodded and replied, "I'm not going to force you to go any faster than you want to Hinata-chan. If you are okay with me touching your butt, then I'm happy." The blonde teen leaned closer and whispered, "For now I'll just settle with a goodnight kiss." He kissed her tenderly for a couple seconds before he pulled back with a small smile. "Good Night and sweet dreams Hinata-hime." After she whispered her own 'good night' the blonde turned to go, only to freeze when he felt someone pinch his rear.

He turned back to see an innocent-looking Hinata, who simply smiled before going to enter the mansion. She paused inside the gate and turned to look back at Naruto. The Hyuuga heiress slowly brought a hand to her lower cheeks and slowly rubbed her hand in a circle on her denbu, watching with a small smirk as Naruto's eyes followed the motions of her hand.

Deciding to go in for the kill (and still acting similarly to the purple-haired jounin she had met from time to time), Hinata gave her butt a small squeeze and groaned softly. She winked at the stunned blonde, who had a small drop of blood leak out of his nose and whose eyes were threatening to bug out of his head, and entered the Hyuuga compound.

The Hyuuga heiress made it up to her room and had gotten changed for bed when everything she just did with her new boyfriend (cue inner victory dance). Hinata blushed the brightest neon red she ever had in her life so far and promptly fainted onto her bed with steam pouring out of her ears while crushing her orange fox plushy to her chest.

Naruto meanwhile, stood stunned as his mind tried to catch up with what his normally shy girlfriend just did. He made a Kage Bushin that promptly shimmered into existence, before he passed out with his nosebleed becoming more pronounced. The Bushin shook its head before it picked up the original and jumped up to the nearest rooftop.

The clone looked back at the mansion and noticed a light suddenly turn on in one of the rooms. He quickly channeled some chakra to his eyes to increase his eyesight (something the blonde had learned how to do on the way back from Nami) and was met with the sight of Hinata undressing. The clone chuckled lewdly as it thought, _'Boss is going to love this. Man, the view in the front is just as good as the view in the back. Ooh, she's got a tattoo.'_ Indeed, the clone barely noticed the tattoo of a lily that Hinata had on her left thigh.

Once the clone saw that Hinata had fainted onto her bed, the clone secured its grip on Naruto and began to hop over the rooftops to Naruto's apartment. Once it arrived at the landing outside the blonde's home, the clone formed a peculiar handseal to disable the traps Naruto had set up to deter various villagers from attempting to break into his home. After it was sure the traps wouldn't activate, the clone opened the door and proceeded to drag Naruto into the home.

When they got to the living room, the real Naruto grumbled his way into consciousness. The clone stopped and allowed its creator to regain his balance before the original nodded at the clone in thanks. The nodded back and dispersed itself, allowing its memories to transfer to Naruto.

Said blonde had to pinch his nose shut to stem the flow of blood that came when he stumbled upon the image of his nude girlfriend. He too noticed the tattoo, and detachedly wondered when Hinata got it grafted onto her porcelain skin. Naruto looked down and shook his head in amusement at the tent he was currently pitching in his pants.

"Well, I doubt I'll be getting any sleep tonight," he muttered to his empty apartment. With a heavy sigh, Naruto went to his bedroom and got ready for bed. If Hinata decided to keep this new personality of hers, then he would need all his wits about him.

Little did he know that sleep wouldn't come for an entirely different reason……

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**~~ Chapter End ~~**

**Unknown-nin345: Well, that's the end of chapter two and things are heating up between Naruto and Hinata. Now, to stem off the questions of Hinata's OOC-ness let me explain. **

**Hinata's personality isn't going to suddenly change (a whole lot), the bit at the end of the chapter was simply a spur of the moment kind of thing after Hinata's thoughts stumbled upon the sexy snake mistress know as Anko. So she(Hinata) decided to act a little bit like the purple-haired woman because in Hinata's courage and confidence had been built up by the events at the club and the walk home with Naruto. As you can read, Hinata reverted back to her normal self once she was alone in her room. **

**As for the voyeur Bushin…well, outside of battle they would behave differently I think. They are created as a copy of the original, which includes the intelligence to know that it is going to disappear soon. So, at least the way I figure it, the clone would want to at least have done something to make up for it's incredibly short lifespan. Usually it wouldn't be a problem since Naruto has mostly used them for battle so far, this clone's actions were pretty much a spur-of-the-moment thing while also wanting to do something for its creator. **

**If you really want to read a story where Naruto's Kage Bushin's personalities are taken to a whole 'nother level; then I would suggest ****Roku Naruto****, by Anthurak the Chaos Lord. It's a good humor/romance fic and the main pairing is Naruto/Hinata. I would definitely recommend reading it if you want to bust a gut laughing.**

**Denbu = Buttock… I got the idea for Hinata using this word from another fic, ****What is Love?**** Another NaruHina fic.**

**Read, Review, and Ja ne.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Unknown-nin345: Welcome to chapter 3 of the fic everybody! Remember the poll on my account for what Zabuza's sword is going to change to, so far the twin kodachi that can join at their hilts is in the lead. **

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Naruto scratched his head in confusion as he looked around at his surroundings. "I could've sworn I just went to bed. So how the heck did I end up in a sewer?" he asked out loud. The blonde shinobi looked around at the dark walls, water-covered floor, and dripping pipes before muttering, "Charming place."

After a couple more seconds of looking around, Naruto began walking down the hallway. As he sloshed through the knee-high water (silently noting that he was only wearing the boxers he had gone to sleep in), small circles of water rose up onto to the walls and began showing images. Naruto stopped when he saw that one of them showed a younger him hiding in a tree in one of the playgrounds in Konoha. The older Naruto noticed that the blonde in the image was looking down at the playground's sandbox, where a little blue-haired girl was quietly playing by herself.

"This is the day when I first met Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered as he stepped closer to the image. "But how can I be seeing this?"

He went silent as he watched a small group of kids come up to the sandbox and begin making fun of the younger Hinata. Just as the young girl was about to begin crying, the Naruto in the tree jumped down rushed over to the sandbox. The group of bullies was scattered, but not without Naruto gaining a split lip and black eye. The young blue-eyed boy caught his breath for a second before turning to the sniffling girl in the sand box and kneeling down next to her. He muttered something to her that the older Naruto couldn't hear before the girl wrapped him in a hug. The young Naruto tentatively returned the hug before he spotted Hinata's watcher coming closer, the young blonde disentangled himself and took off running with a wave.

Naruto watched the water trail back down to the floor and continued walking, stopping to watch various images (including a heart-shaped one that showed his and Hinata's first kiss). "These must be my memories," he muttered after he watched one that featured the night he first found out about him being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. His blue eyes roamed across the hallway as he said, "So I'm somehow inside my own mind. Then that means…"

He turned his head to the side and noticed another hallway that had a dim red glow coming from it. Naruto cautiously approached it and peeked around the corner. The hallway seemed to stretch on for a bit before it opened up into a wide room and from his position; the blonde could faintly make out a couple vertical bars. After a second or two, Naruto began walking down the hallway.

Soon, he slowed to a stop as he approached the giant bars that served as the cage for the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Naruto silently stared up at the giant red fox that seemed to be…meditating? Naruto didn't get much time to reflect on this since the blood-red gleaming eyes of the fox opened to stare directly into his sapphire ones.

"**So,"** softly rumbled out the giant fox, Naruto was surprised when he detected a slight feminine tone to the fox's voice. **"The jailer finally visits the jailed. I'm surprised it took you this long to reach me Naruto-kun."** When Naruto didn't answer the giant fox looked over its self and said, **"I suppose this form can be quiet intimidating to converse with. Perhaps a change is required."**

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he watched a bright red ball of light exited the fox's body before the Kyuubi began glowing red as well and then shrank down. Naruto's jaw dropped when the glow died down to reveal a naked female. She had raven-black silky hair that reached down to the middle of her back, the same bright-red eyes as her fox form, a perfect hourglass figure, moderately sized but perky breasts (with dark pink nipples), a small patch of black hair above her lower lips, and finally a black fox's tail sensually swaying above her round buttocks.

The now partly-human Kyuubi sashayed through the bars of her cage, while the ball of red light floated behind the bars, and smirked at the still gaping blonde before her eyes darted over Naruto's body. "I'm glad to see you approve of my human form Naruto-kun," she stated.

Naruto snapped out of his stunned state and crossed his arms over his chest, "What makes you think that?"

"Oh I don't know," Kyuubi lightly said as she came closer. She gently pressed her nude body up against Naruto's mostly bare one and laid a hand on the blonde's crotch, making him twitch. "Perhaps it's your not-so-little friend down here Naruto-kun that's excited to see me. You know I could help you with that. I can make you feel sooo good Narrrruto-kuuun," she slowly purred as she rubbed her bare body against his mostly-bare body.

Naruto shivered at the feeling that coursed throughout his body before he gently pulled away from the fox-lady. "As much as other people, and you, might like that I'm sorry to say: no. I have Hinata-chan now and as long as I breathe I'm not going to give her up," Naruto said.

The sexy vixen huffed angrily and crossed her arms. "I can't believe you'd choose some _girl_ who's never done anything to help you over me! I've been through everything with you. I saw your first step; I heard your first word. I've felt every hit, cut, broken bone and it was MY youkai that healed all of them! So how, in the nine layers of hell, can she compare to ME!" This shout was punctuated by her cupping her bare breasts.

Naruto was silent for moment before he shrugged, "You are you, and Hinata-chan is Hinata-chan. Right now, all I know is that I want to be with her. I don't know if I love her right now, but I do know I want to find out." With that said, he turned to walk away before Kyuubi's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"You'll have to tell her eventually. Soon she'll find out about me, one way or another. And when that happens, she'll leave you. She'll hate you; if not for containing me, then for keeping such a monumental secret from her." She wrapped her arms around him from behind and whispered into his ear, "Either way, I'll have you all to myself. SHE WILL LEAVE YOU."

------- --------

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he launched into a sitting position while heaving in deep breaths. He threw his blanket off of him and threw his legs over the side of his bed, noticing that he was sweating lightly. He rested his head in his hands, consciously slowing his breathing down.

"SHE WILL LEAVE YOU."

Those four words echoed over and over in his mind as he tried to calm his racing heart down. The blonde shinobi lifted his head up and looked over at his clock, the green digits innocently glowing to indicate that sunrise would be coming soon. Naruto stood and made his way out to the balcony attached to his apartment, uncaring about the fact that he was only wearing boxers.

The blonde Jinchuuriki leaned on the rail in contemplative silence as he watched the sun rise above the horizon. He thought over what the nine-tails had told him just before he had woken up. Would Hinata hate him for holding the Kyuubi no Kitsune? He just didn't know; it wouldn't be like Hinata to hate someone for no reason though.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair. It was either tell her and let her find out that way; or not tell her and let her find out later from someone else, thus risking her trust in him because he withheld such a gigantic secret. He shook his head and went back inside to get ready for the day. After he had showered and gotten dressed in his usual clothes, minus his orange jacket, he exited the apartment and made his way to Makimaru's to meet up with his girlfriend.

After a short while of walking Naruto arrived at the teahouse and sat down on a bench outside as he waited for his lavender-eyed girlfriend. As he waited, he mentally debated whether or not he was going to tell Hinata about him containing the Kyuubi (he'd leave out the part about the fox being female and attempting to seduce him…_shudder_, he didn't want to risk finding out if Hinata did have an angry side, or worse: a jealous possessive side).

Right as he made his decision in what to do about telling his girlfriend, the blonde felt two arms wrap around his shoulders as a gentle voice whispered, "Good morning Naruto-kun."

Naruto stood, before turning towards the owner of the voice and smiled when his eyes met the lavender ones of Hinata as he returned the hug. "Good morning Hinata-chan," he whispered back and placed a kiss on her cheek. The girl was wearing her usual shinobi outfit, except she had left her beige jacket unzipped to reveal a black v-neck tanktop (that had mesh fill in the 'v') to everybody.

The blue-haired girl glanced down and noticed the tattoo on his left arm. She ran a finger over it and said, "This is a nice tattoo Naruto-kun. Is this where you keep your guitar?"

"Yep, Jii-san let me get it and drew a special seal over it that lets the tattoo act like a storage seal," he explained. The blonde smirked lightly and said, "I think you should get one Hinata-chan." He chuckled inwardly when he felt her left leg twitch.

Hinata noticed that her boyfriend seemed little tired and asked, "Are you feeling alright Naruto-kun?"

The blue-eyed shinobi nodded, "I'm fine, just had a rough night is all. C'mon, let's go get some breakfast. After we're done, there's something I want to tell you." He turned and began walking into the tea shop while his hand entwined itself with Hinata's. Because he was slightly ahead of her, he missed the tiny frown that marred her lips.

The young couple sat down in a booth and placed their orders for breakfast; it was here that Naruto learned about Hinata's secret craving. It seemed that what ramen was to Naruto, cinnamon buns were to Hinata. He watched as she consumed them at speeds similar to him when he ate ramen, only she was a whole lot neater about it.

'_How can she eat all that and still look as incredibly beautiful as she does? She must work hard to earn her body. Hinata-chan's definitely no fangirl,'_ Naruto thought to himself as he ate his own meal. A small blush spread across his cheeks as his mind brought forth the images of an undressing Hinata that his clone had seen last night.

After they had finished eating, Naruto was going to pay for the meal before Hinata told the waitress to charge it to the Hyuuga family's tab. As they left, Naruto asked her why she did that and the lavender-eyed girl simply replied that she felt like it. As the two were walking through the streets of Konoha, they passed by a music store and decided to go in.

While Naruto was looking over the guitars in the store, Hinata moved over to the corner that displayed various music-playing devices that ranged from 8-track tapes to CDs to I-pods. She looked over them before picking out a black i-pod with orange trim and a couple CDs she thought her boyfriend might like. She brought the stuff over to the cashier and had them charged to the Hyuuga clan account again, just as Naruto came over with a lavender-colored electric guitar that had a small eagle carved into the body and headstock.

Hinata gasped lightly when Naruto handed it to her after paying for it. She reverently held it in her hands and looked down at it before looking back up at a smiling Naruto. "N-Naruto-kun, I can't…I mean, it must have cost you a lot of money," she said, slightly timidly.

Naruto shrugged and said, "Not really. I was saving some from the B-rank mission pay I was given the night I took down Mizuki-teme and became a genin. Plus, my team did just complete an A-rank mission. I wanted to get it for you because it reminded me of your beautiful eyes. I can help you learn how to play it."

The cashier interrupted here as she asked Naruto, "Is she your girlfriend?" Seeing the blushes on both of them she nodded with a smile before she reached under the counter and pulled out a bunch of sheet music and all the equipment needed to care for and play an electric guitar. "Then consider this stuff as a 'good luck' present, on the house. I hope you two keep each other happy for a long time," she said with a smile.

Hinata accepted the items with a small bow and placed the guitar, along with the sheet music and accessories minus the small amp (which got sealed into one of Naruto's spare scrolls), in the case. She then handed the I-pod and CDs to her boyfriend, who thanked her with a heartfelt kiss. They blushed when they pulled apart as the two of them realized they kissed right in front of a woman they barely knew.

The couple thanked the cashier for her gift and left the store and headed to one of Konoha's many parks. The two sat down on a bench and cuddled with each other for a couple minutes in comfortable silence.

"Mm, I'm gonna miss this," Hinata mumbled as she snuggled into Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto kissed her on the top of her head and replied, "We'll just have to make up for it when you get back." He was quiet for a moment before he whispered, "I'm sorry for making you wait so long."

The lavender-eyed girl looked up at him and kissed his cheek, "It's not your fault. If I hadn't been so shy, I could have said something and we might have gotten together sooner."

"No," Naruto said while shaking his head, "It was my fault. I was afraid of what us getting together might mean for you. You are from the most prestigious clan in Konoha and I'm just…me. And because I am what I am, I was afraid because of what might happen to you."

Hinata pulled back slightly and stared into his ocean-blue eyes, "What do you mean 'because I am what I am'? I already know what you are; you're my boyfriend and nothing is going to change that."

Naruto smiled lightly at her, "I hope so Hinata-chan, 'cause I've got a big secret to tell you." With that he launched into the tale of what happened the night he became genin, leaving nothing out of it. Needless to say, Hinata was crying by the end of his tale but she reaffirmed her feelings for Naruto hadn't changed one bit.

"If anything they've grown stronger than before," she whispered (she also reaffirmed Naruto's knowledge of how she was an excellent kisser). Naruto thanked her by hugging her tightly for a couple seconds as happy tears leaked from his own eyes.

The blonde shinobi then went on to tell her of his suspicions that he might be, in some way, related to the Yondaime Hokage.

"After all," he said with a thoughtful frown, "why would he go out and pick some random kid out of the hospital? From what I've heard about him, he doesn't seem like the type to ask someone else to do something he wasn't willing to do himself. Plus, I couldn't have been the only orphan back then." He sighed and leaned back against the bench, "I don't even know if I want to find out. What kind of father orphans his own son? Maybe I would be better off just not knowing."

Hinata gently turned his head towards her and placed a gentle kiss on his lips before she leaned her forehead against his as she stared in his eyes. "Even so, knowing where we come from doesn't change who we are. I wouldn't care if your parents were the worst nuke-nins to ever exist, it's you that I care about Naruto-kun and that's not going to change even if the Yondaime was your father," she whispered lovingly to him and then continued with a small smile, "If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile Naruto-kun, I would have the whole night sky in the palm of my hand."

Naruto smiled back and captured Hinata's lips once again; however the two were interrupted in their kissing by a beeping that came from the lavender-eyed girl's wrist. The couple broke apart and looked down at the watch that was flashing and beeping irritatingly.

Hinata looked back up at Naruto and smiled apologetically, "Sorry Naruto-kun, I have to go meet my team for our mission now. Do you think you can keep my guitar at your place while I'm gone?"

"Sure thing Hinata-chan," Naruto replied as they both stood.

Before Hinata could leave, Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into an emotion-filled kiss that left Hinata feeling like a pile of goop. After he glanced around to see if anyone was around, Naruto let one of his hands drift down to his girlfriend's butt and began to gently rub it making the lavender-eyed girl moan into their kiss while one of her hands wound its way up to his spiky hair. All too soon, the two were forced to separate so that they could regain their breath. A minute passed by as the couple stared into each other's eyes, shutting out the world around them as they held onto each other. A flash of bright light forced them out of their trance.

They looked over at the origin of the light and found Kurenai standing there with a camera in hand and a small grin on her lips. "You two look sooo cute together," she squealed lightly. The two genin sweat dropped at the ruined moment as they separated while Kurenai continued, "Naruto, if you hurry this to the nearest photo store you should be able to get a picture for the both of you while Hinata-chan and our team are getting our mission from Hokage-sama."

Naruto nodded with a smile and said, "Got ya Kurenai-sensei!" After giving his girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek, he took the camera and guitar before rushing off to the nearest photo store.

As they walked towards the Hokage tower, Kurenai looked down at her favorite student and asked with a small smirk, "So did you have fun with your boyfriend?"

The lavender-eyed girl blushed brightly, "I don't know what you're talking about Sensei. Naruto-kun and I just went to get breakfast with each other."

"Oh? So I didn't come up on you two just as you were making out and he was grabbing your butt?" The raven-haired woman chuckled at her student's darkened blush before her expression turned serious, "You did give him permission to do that right? He's not pushing too fast is he?"

Hinata gulped and tried to make sure her answer wouldn't come out as a squeak, "N-no Kurenai-sensei, he's not pushing for anything. Last night he said he would be happy with whatever pace I set for us."

The red-eyed woman nodded, "Good. I would've slightly hated to have to sic Anko on your first boyfriend Hinata-chan." She placed a finger on her chin in thought as she said, "Hey that's not a bad idea. Maybe I should 'introduce' Kiba to Anko. If anyone can beat the perverted-ness out of that boy, it'll be her." Hinata just giggled lightly in agreement.

Soon, the teacher and her student arrived at the tower where the two male members (three if you count Akamaru) of team 8 were waiting. Kiba's reaction upon seeing Hinata's figure under her jacket consisted of a double take followed by a small amount of drool, while Akamaru and Shino were more normal in their greetings.

"Kurenai-sensei, Hinata-san," Shino greeted in the Aburame's signature monotone while Akamaru just barked with his tail wagging.

"Good morning Shino," Kurenai greeted with a small smile before frowning at the Inuzuka, who seemed to be stuck in that position. The raven-haired jounin was just about to put him in her genjutsu specifically designed for perverts when a good idea came to her, "Come on. Let's leave the drooling wonder here and go get our mission."

The two genin looked at each other in confusion and a small bit of disappointment (seeing Kiba experience that genjutsu had become something they enjoyed watching). They shrugged at each other and followed their sensei up the winding steps of the Hokage tower, leaving their third teammate and his canine companion standing in a puddle of his drool.

The three entered the Hokage's office to find the Fire Shadow leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed while humming a tune. The click of the turning handle woke him from his serene state; the aged leader opened his eyes and smiled at Team 8.

"Ah, Team 8… minus one member," Sarutobi noted. He raised an eyebrow as he asked, "May I ask why a member of your team is not present Kurenai-san?"

"May I be frank with you Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked in return, when the Sandaime nodded she said, "Inuzuka Kiba is a horny little mutt who lets his hormones dictate his train of thought. Without fail whenever our team gathers, be it for training or for a D-rank mission, he always chooses to focus on either Hinata-chan or myself instead of his surroundings. If you'll look out your window, you'll see the latest case of this."

Hiruzen nodded and looked out his window, spotting the male Inuzuka still standing in the same spot in the same position his team had left him. He watched as his blonde surrogate grandson came up and, upon spotting Kiba's state, pulled out a black marker before he began doodling on the Inuzuka's face. The aged leader held back a laugh as Naruto summoned out of one of his 'prank' scrolls a pre-made sign and stuck it in the ground next to the brown-haired boy, the blonde then pulled out a piece of jerky and handed it to the small white dog who happily accepted it.

He turned around when he saw that Naruto began climbing up the steps and asked the jounin, "What would you suggest be done Kurenai-san?"

The red-eyed jounin fidgeted slightly before answering, "Well Hokage-sama, up until now I've been placing Kiba in a genjutsu every time he would stare at either myself or Hinata-chan too long, but it has been ineffective as you just saw." She took a deep breath to ready herself. "So, I would like to trade Inuzuka Kiba for one of the other rookie genin."

The Hokage was silent for a moment before he asked, "I suppose you already have someone in mind?"

Kurenai nodded, "Yes sir. Ever since I received my genin team, I had been doing some thinking about the teams you chose and I found that both mine and Kakashi-san's teams were too specialized. For Kakashi-san's assault team, unless they are given explicit instructions as to who and where they will face their opposition, the genin on his team wouldn't be able to locate their foes before they're engaged in combat. With my reconnaissance team, when we find whoever we are assigned to track down or spy on we will be unable attack or to defend ourselves effectively since the genin on my team are primarily geared towards locating their foes. I think that both of our teams would benefit if Kakashi-san receive one of my trackers and I received one of his assault genin."

"And who would you wish to trade Kurenai-san?" the Sandaime asked, already having a good idea who.

"I would want to trade Inuzuka Kiba for Uzumaki Naruto," Kurenai said with a stoic expression, while behind her Hinata gasped lightly and both of Shino's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Sarutobi smile slightly, "And why is that?" A voice from the doorway interrupted what Kurenai was going to say.

"That should be a no-brainer Jii-san," Naruto said as he walked into the room. "Team 7 gets two new members since Kiba always has his canine companion with him and since both can serve the role as a tracker, Hatake can get two for the price of one. I, meanwhile, would be able to provide cover for Team 8 on reconnaissance missions with my Kage Bushins, and since I can make a great deal of them I can be a veritable one man army." Everyone gathered was surprised by the argument since it did make sense (although Shino was surprised also by Naruto's admission that he knew a kinjutsu).

The Sandaime noticed a certain part of Naruto's short speech and asked, "Why do you not call you Jounin leader 'sensei' Naruto-kun?"

The blonde snorted and crossed his arms, "Why the heck should I? He hasn't taught me anything aside from how to be overconfident while fighting."

Sarutobi's eyebrows furrowed and his eyes narrowed, "That's not what his reports state. In them he reported that he was teaching you all Taijutsu styles not taught in the academy as well as several low-level ninjutsus and some genjutsu to your female teammate."

Naruto laughed mirthlessly and said, "Sure, he's probably telling the truth, but he's not including me in that truth. The only actual useful thing he tried to teach us as a group that I know of was the Tree-walking exercise while we were on our C-turned-A-rank mission and I know he hadn't already taught it to my 'teammates' since they were horrible at it when we started, unless they were faking. Even then, all he did was tell us what to do. He didn't give any pointers or tips at all and I already knew it since Iruka-sensei instructed me in it the first couple days after the teams were formed."

"That lazy…Gagh!" Kurenai, who had been growing more and more enraged as the explanation went on, screamed. "Why has no one checked up on him to see if what he was reporting was the truth?! I know that someone checked up on my team, and Asuma mentioned something similar, so why is it that this didn't happen with Hatake's team!"

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration, "It was probably certain members of the civilian section of the council who wished to see that the other teams weren't getting too far ahead of the team that the last Uchiha is on. That's the only thing I can think of at the moment." He looked over the gathered shinobi and asked the two genin of Team 8, "Would you two be okay if this switch happened?"

Shino nodded and said, "From what I've just heard it certainly sounds logical to have this switch implemented. I would not be opposed to it occurring."

Hinata nodded as well, with a small blush and smile decorating her face, "Most definitely Hokage-sama. I would be glad to not have to worry about Kiba-san's leers anymore."

The aged leader nodded and turned to the blonde genin, "And you, Naruto-kun?"

"Is that a trick question Jii-san?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"Very well then. Unfortunately, we cannot implement this switch right now since I will need to inform Kakashi, who is currently out on a mission. So for the moment, Team 8 will stay as it is," Sarutobi said, receiving three grudging nods and one monotone nod. "Now then, I believe that you came here for a C-rank mission Kurenai-san?"

"Yes Hokage-same," she answered while nodding.

"Very well," the Hokage said and reached over at a folder that rested on the corner of his desk. He picked it up and handed it to Kurenai while saying, "A group of bandits popped up out of nowhere outside of a town that supplies Konoha with some of its special herbs and in return they get a small garrison of chunin to deal with minor issues. We need you to scout the bandit force and report back with precise details about the bandit force so that we reinforce the chunins accordingly. Specific details can be found in the folder."

Kurenai nodded and bowed, followed by her students, "Hai, Hokage-sama. It shall be done." She turned to the two genin and ordered, "Meet at the eastern gate in twenty-five minutes. Prepare to be gone for at least a week." The two genin nodded at their sensei, who then formed a handseal and shushined out of the office. Shino gave one last bow to the Hokage before he exited as well.

Naruto quickly walked over to Hinata and handed her one of the pictures that Kurenai had taken of the two of them. "Turn it over," he said softly after handing it to her.

The lavender-eyed girl did so and saw a small note on the back that read, _'No matter where we are we'll always be together.'_ Hinata felt her eyes tear up as she wrapped her boyfriend in a hug before she gave him a kiss on his cheek and left the office.

Naruto turned back to the Sandaime, who was smiling at the scene he had just witnessed, with a dead serious expression on his face. "If something happens to them while they're on their mission, I want to be sent out to help them," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and asked, "And if your team does not wish to go with you?"

"Then I'll just go by myself," he stated determinedly. "I seriously doubt my team would want to go help them if they knew I was the one who suggested it." His hands clenched so tightly that blood started leaking out of his palms, "And I will not lose Hinata-chan."

'_He is so much like his father,'_ Sarutobi thought as he gazed at the blonde shinobi in front of him before his eyes swept over to the picture hanging on the wall of his successor. His eyes went back to Naruto, _'Should I tell him? Is he ready for the burden that will most certainly come with the knowledge?'_ He was silent as thought on the matter before nodding, it was time.

"Naruto-kun," the aged leader suddenly said. The genin looked up at the Hokage who continued speaking, "It's time I tell you of a great secret I have been keeping from you for many years now. I believe you are ready to know who your parents are…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

----- Omake: Hinata's Garden Song (Time within the story: in chapter one, a while before the scene at the club) ----

Our favorite lavender-eyed Hyuuga was sitting by her lonesome in the garden as she quietly talked to the small square stone that marked the grave of her mother, who had wanted to be buried in the Hyuuga clan's garden when she died.

Hinata sighed and laid a hand on her mother's gravestone as she whispered, "I really wish you were here Kaa-san. I know you would have loved to meet Naruto-kun." She felt her eyelids flutter as she grew more and more drowsy, before she slumped down beside her mother's gravestone.

---

Hinata felt her eyes open and widen in surprise as she looked around at her surroundings. There was marble pillars holding up a domed ceiling, a couple pieces of furniture here and there that had pillows resting on them, and a balcony that lay beyond gigantic curtains.

She stood and looked down at her new clothing; a lavender shoulder-less top, with the bottom stopping an inch or so beneath her breasts and the top of it coming halfway down her breasts, with sleeves that went down to her wrists. Lavender pants clung to her slender waist but flared out slightly as they traveled down her legs while still managing to cling in the right spots. She ran her hands through her hair that now fell down to the middle of her back.

The lavender-eyed girl walked over to a nearby nightstand and picked up a picture of Naruto that was resting next to a vanity mirror. Suddenly, a red-feathered parrot flew down out of nowhere and landed on the nightstand. The oddest thing about the parrot was that it had her father's head instead of a normal parrot one. Then it began to sing, in a very odd voice that (if he had it in the real world) completely destroyed her image of the stern Hyuuga Head.

(A/N: _Hiashi-parrot singing.__ Hinata singing. __**Hiashi-parrot & Hinata singing. **_**Naruto singing. ****Naruto and Hinata singing.)**

_Forget about that guy_

_Forget about the way you fell into his eyes_

_Forget about his charms_

_Forget about the way he held you in his arms_

Hinata tried hit the parrot with a nearby pillow, but the parrot flew out of reach of her swings while still singing.

_Walking on air's obnoxious_

_The thrills, the chills,_

_Will make you nauseous_

_And you'll never get enough_

_Just forget about love_

Hinata finally managed to hit Hiashi-parrot with the pillow. The red-feathered bird slid across the floor for a bit before he threw off the pillow and continued singing.

_Forget about romance_

_Forget about the way your heart begins to dance_

_Then you'll feel the blush_

_When he's spouting out some sentimental mush_

Over the course of this verse, Hinata chased Hiashi-parrot out to the balcony, where the lavender-eyed girl was able to see a strangely dressed Naruto sitting by a small pool.

_Love really is revolting_

_It's even worse than when you're molting_

_Enough of this fluff_

_Just forget about love_

Hinata, who had felt a smile begin to creep up on her lips, began singing.

_I had almost forgotten the way it felt_

_When he held out his hand for mine_

_My heart all a-flutter_

_Oh, how I shudder_

_The first time we kissed_

_It won't be missed_

_Forget about his touch_

_I can't forget about his touch_

Hinata suddenly took off running to where she somehow knew the stairs would be that would lead her down to her love.

_In the scheme of things it doesn't matter much_

_It matters so much_

_You're better on your own_

_A meal becomes a banquet when you eat alone_

The lavender-eyed girl stopped at a mirror and ran her hands through her silky hair.

_Mmm mmm mmm mmm_

_**Love's filled with compromises**_

_And don't you hate those big surprises_

Hinata burst through the doors of the palace and began making her way over to Naruto. A small group of fireflies formed a crown around her head as she walked.

_A cozy rendezvous_

_Oh, please_

_Candlelight for two_

_Oh, jeez_

_Look, you're calling my bluff_

_I can't, __Just __**Forget about love**_

Hinata walked over to Naruto, who stood and began to stammer out some sort of an apology. She placed a finger on his lips before singing.

_I can't forget about my heart_

**I can't forget about my heart**

_And how it felt to fall for you right from the start_

**I'm still falling**

They began to do a short twirling dance through the garden as they sung.

_Whatever we may do_

**Whatever we may do**

_You are here for me and I'll be there for you_

**I'll be there**

**To wish, to want, to wander**

**To find the Sun through rain or thunder**

They made their way over to a small bench while still continuing their dance.

**A cozy rendezvous**

_Yes, please_

**Candlelight for two**

_Oh, jeez_

_Enough is enough_

**We can't forget about love**

Just as Naruto and Hinata leaned in for a kiss, a shrill beeping broke apart the dream.

---

Hinata sprung upright and looked around in surprise before she looked down at her wrist and saw that her watch was beeping. She gasped when she noticed the time and quickly began running out of the garden, "Oh no, I'm going to be late!"

----- (Omake End) ----

**~~~ (Chapter End) ~~~**

**Unknown-nin345: Alright, that's chapter 3 down. Naruto has finally met the sexy vixen inside of him and got Hinata her own guitar. Expect some guitar duets in later chapters. And I hope you liked the Omake, the scene and song belongs to the Disney movie: 'Aladdin, the Return of Jafar'.**

**I'm going to head your questions off right now and state that Kyuubi will not be involved in the pairing. She definitely cares about Naruto and wants him all to herself, but she isn't going to sink low and do something to Hinata, or Naruto's perception of Hinata. She wants to earn Naruto's love on her own and not through false means. That isn't to say she wouldn't immediately pounce into action if Naruto and Hinata break up (not going to happen), he's just one of the few things she truly cares about.**

**Tayuya's probably not going to get introduced until the Chunin Exam arc, so you'll have to wait a bit for our favorite fiery redhead.**

**Remember the poll on my account and Review!**

**Song of the chapter:**

**'Forget about love': Words and Music by, Silversher & Silversher; Performed by: Liz Callaway, Gilber Gottfried, and Brad Kane.**

**Unknown-nin345: The reason Chapter 2 didn't have a 'Song of the Chapter' was because I had done two songs for Chapter 1, so I felt that Chapter 2 had been covered. But from now on, every chapter shall have a full song!**

**In the words of Robin Williams (when he did the voice acting of the Genie):**

**MADE YOU LOOK**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**Unknown-nin345: Hello all and welcome to the fourth chapter. **

**So, to recap the last chapter: Naruto met Kyuubi; Naruto got Hinata her own guitar and told her about him being the container of the Kyuubi; Kurenai requested of the Hokage that Naruto and Kiba trade teams, the Hokage agreed but said that he couldn't do the switch since Kakashi was out of the village; Naruto told the Hokage that he was to be the one sent out if Team 8 ran into any trouble on their C-rank mission; Naruto was then told who his parents were.**

**The poll for the sword change is now closed. The readers have clicked and Kubikiri's new form has been decided. It will appear in the next chapter.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

--- (Three days after the end of the last chapter) ---

"_I believe you are ready to know who your parents are…" Sarutobi said._

Even now, after three days, that conversation repeated itself through Naruto's head. At first, the blonde shinobi had been in denial, refusing to believe that the man who had sealed the Kyuubi into him, the Yondaime Hokage, could possibly be his father.

After he had left the Hokage's office, Naruto had gone straight to the nearest training ground and started a mass battle royal with his Kage Bushins. He had been doing that every day since then, each time he was thankful that one of the abilities that the seal, which contained the Kyuubi no Kitsune, lent him was an incredible healing factor.

And here he was again, a vast gathering of clones (each armed with their own copies of Kubikiri Houcho) stood before him. Off to the side stood a smaller group of clones, some reading from scrolls on different taijutsu styles or theories on elemental ninjutsu while a couple were ready to observe the fight that was about to take place, a couple were even reading some old sword legends. Being able to watch himself fight from different viewpoints was an invaluable tool for Naruto, one that he made sure to use at every possible opportunity.

Naruto took out the i-pod that his girlfriend (_Kami-sama, it feels nice to be able to call her that,_ the blonde offhandedly thought), Hinata, had bought for him three days ago and placed the headphones into his ears. The blonde then scrolled down to one of the many songs picked out for him by his girlfriend and pressed 'play' before he hefted his own zanbatou onto his shoulder.

He had some frustration to work off: a combination of worry for Hinata (recalling how his own first C-rank had gone), lingering anger at the news delivered to him by the Sandaime, and frustration over the fact that today was the day when Kakashi came back from his mission, which meant that Naruto would have to deal with his teammates.

Naruto rushed at his clones as a haunting melody played in his ears and engaged the Kage Bushins in combat as he sang along with the song.

_Took from me all that I had  
With my soul and spirit dead  
Killing everything in me  
What is one use to be free_

Naruto decapitated three clones with one swing and used the momentum of his sword to dodge out of the way of a horizontal slash. The blonde stabbed his blade into the ground and used it to pull himself into a dropkick that nailed another clone in its chest.

_Now to drive away the pain  
I'll destroy all I distain  
I'll become what I despise  
Living someone else's life_

Naruto bent forward to dodge a slash from one the clones, but felt a couple other blades descend on his back and quickly intercepted their swords with the flat side of his own. The blonde grunted as he was forced down to a knee from the weight of the three swords pressing down on his own. With a defiant roar he stood up, sending the three clones flying as he spun in a circle, demolishing even more of his clones.

_DON'T BACK DOWN!_

The blonde genin blocked a swipe and ran his blade along the clone's blade, slashing through the clone and sending another one off balance when their swords collided. The original quickly whipped out a kunai which pierced the off-balance clone right between its eyes.

_Don't ever back down  
Don't ever turn around  
My end has come  
So now I come for you_

Naruto felt a blade descending down from above and swung his sword up to meet it, the force of the two blades colliding made the airborne clone flip backwards. A pair of kunai dispersed the airborne clone.

_Now obsession rules my mind  
This commotion makes me blind  
Searching out who ever runs  
Or has stolen away my life_

_But I've already said_

The blonde genin flipped over a swing from one of the clone's swords and used the force of his flip to bring his sword into a devastating slash the split the clone in two.

_Don't ever back down  
Don't ever turn around  
My end has come  
So now I come for you_

Naruto hid behind his blade in order to protect himself from a barrage of kunai and shuriken. The blonde spun around his sword and stabbed a clone with kunai, dispersing it while he swung Kubikiri in a wide arc to force some of the attacking clones back so that he could get some breathing room.

_AHHHHH…Aaaaahhhh_

_You trip on everything  
I'll take your tired breath  
I can't feel anything  
I live to see you to your death_

_A new heart with me  
As might be just as quick  
Through your tortured expense  
Cuz I won't back down_

At this point Kakashi arrived and, upon seeing the mass melee going on, decided to hang back and observe how Naruto did with the sword of the deceased Kiri-nin.

_I'll drive you down (Don't back down!)  
I'll beat you to the ground (Don't back down!)  
My end has come (Don't back down!)  
So now I come for you_

Naruto spun in a circle, forcing a group of attacking clones back before he brought his sword over his head. He gathered his chakra and sent it into the blade, making it glow the same sapphire as his eyes. He roared the last line of the song as he brought the sword down to the ground.

_DON'T BACK DOWN!!_

A shockwave spread outward from Naruto, dispersing the remainder of the clones that were holding a copy of Kubikiri Houcho. The blonde dropped to a knee as he panted heavily for a moment before he looked over at the clones that had been on the sideline and nodded. The Kage Bushins dispersed themselves, the one that had been reading having already placed their scrolls/books back into a green backpack.

Naruto was silent as he closed his eyes while the memories of his clones rushed into his mind. Once all of the memories had been assimilated, the blonde walked over to where his jacket was lying on the ground and slid it on. As he walked over to his backpack, Naruto looked over his new outfit.

He had on his red and black short-sleeved jacket that he gone to a shinobi store to get it reinforced with a special mesh weave that would make sure small projectiles snagged onto the clothing instead of passing through. Underneath the jacket he wore a long-sleeved black shirt that had a special chain mesh sown into it to prevent ordinary bladed weapons from passing through. Over his legs he wore black pants that, while slightly baggy, didn't offer resistance to his leg movements while combat boots covered his feet and a kunai/shuriken pouch rested on his hip. Topping off his new look was his hitai-ate; instead of a blue cloth though, he had switched it out for a longer black one while the metal plate gleamed proudly on his forehead.

Suddenly, before the blonde had picked up his pack, he asked, "How long are you going to stand there Hatake-san?"

Kakashi stepped out from the shadow of the tree he'd been standing under and approached the blonde genin. "You've gotten very good with that zanbatou Naruto, I think if Zabuza could see you know he would be impressed at far you've come in such a short time," Kakashi complimented.

Naruto didn't turn to face the silver-haired jounin as he answered, "Maybe...but I don't think I could ever be as good as he was."

"Nonsense, I'm sure with enough practice-" Kakashi began, only to be interrupted by the genin.

"No, it's not that Hatake-san." Naruto turned towards the one-eyed jounin and gestured at the zanbatou, "Whenever I use it, it feels...off. Like a...like a shirt that's too big or small for you. No matter how many times I change my grip on the hilt, it feels like the sword will never…fit me, if you get my meaning."

Kakashi was silent for a moment before he shook his head as he said, "I don't know what to say Naruto. The only time I ever really used a sword was back during the Third Shinobi War, and I guess because it was a family sword I never had to worry about it feeling off. There's a jounin I know, Gekkou Hayate, he's a kenjutsu specialist. If anyone can tell you something about swords, it'll be him."

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly as a thought occurred to him, "I'm sure by now you've been told about the switch Kiba and I will be doing. So why are you actually making an effort to help me now?"

Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his gravity-defying hair, "The mission I just took outside of the village gave me some quiet time to myself without the chance of someone bothering me about something. I thought back on the time I've been leader of Team 7 and I found that I had done a piss poor job of teaching you three. I was planning on stepping up to the plate and actually training you three since the Chunin Exams will be coming up soon once I got back. But then Hokage-sama told me about the proposal Kurenai gave and, on my walk over here, I decided that it is probably for the best."

Here he took out a small slip of paper and handed it to Naruto as he said, "But before that happens, I'd like to be able to say that I did at least one good thing for you. This is chakra paper, shinobi use it to discover what their elemental alignment is by channelling their chakra through it."

Naruto accepted the paper from the jounin and asked, "How will I know what element I'm aligned with?"

"If the paper splits in half, you have wind. If it turns to dust, you have earth. If it crumples up and turns black, you have lightning. If it turns to ash, you have fire. Finally, if it gets thoroughly soaked, you have water," Kakashi explained.

Naruto nodded and channelled his chakra into the piece of paper before him. After a minute or so, the paper split in half before both halves crumbled into dust. He looked down at the ground before turning his gazed back up to the surprised jounin and stated, "I guess I'm aligned with both wind and earth."

The silver-haired scarecrow put a hand to his chin in thought as he said, "Well both definitely suit you. Wind is the most offense-oriented of the elements, while earth is primarily geared towards defence. You like to take the fight to your enemies but you're also fiercely protective of those around you." He quickly pulled out two scrolls from somewhere in his flak jacket and, upon seeing the blonde's curious look, said, "These scrolls are filled with every Fuuton and Doton ninjutsu I've ever copied. Once we had found out what your elemental alignment was I was going to give you a scroll so that you could expand your ninjutsu repertoire. Here."

He tossed the scrolls at the blonde genin, who caught them with a dumbfounded look before he bowed slightly and said, "Thank you. I still think you're lazy, a bad liar, and a pervert, but at least now I can add instructor to that list...Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sweatdropped and 'eye-smiled' at the same time, "Thanks...I think. Well, shall we go meet the rest of the team? At least now, I have an actual excuse to give for being late." Naruto just laughed as he gathered up his pack and placed his large sword onto his back. The two were about to set off when a messenger bird flew down and landed on Naruto's shoulder.

The blue-eyed genin accepted the message from the bird. After a moment, the silver-haired jounin asked, "What's up?"

Naruto shrugged as a worried frown tugged at his lips, "I'm not sure. Jii-san wants me to head over to his office right away."

Kakashi glanced down at his wristwatch and said, "Well I still got two hours until I'm supposed to get to our meeting spot. Why don't I go with you?" The blonde genin just shrugged in a noncommittal way and the two began to hightail it to the Hokage Tower, ninja style. A short while later, the two shinobi arrived at the Hokage Tower and quickly made their way up to the Hokages office.

Naruto entered first, followed by Kakashi, and asked "What do you need Jii-san?"

The Sandaime bore a grim appearance as he turned to regard his surrogate grandson, "I'm afraid I have some bad news Naruto-kun."

The blonde noticed an unrolled scroll on the desk and his mind immediately filled in the blanks. His hands clenched tightly as he turned his head away to keep some control over himself. "What's happened?" he tightly asked.

"It would appear that Hyuuga Hinata has been captured by the bandits that Team 8 was sent to investigate," Hiruzen explained. "Kurenai had the genin perform scouting shifts in teams of two and Hinata's partner for her shift was…distracted by something, which gave a bandit that had been lying in wait the opportunity to abduct Hinata." All throughout the Sandaime's explanation, Naruto felt more and more of his control slipping, but when the Third came to the end of his explanation Naruto's eyes turned blood red as his features became more feral.

Not a second after this transformation occurred, an Anbu appeared out of nowhere with his palm extended in Naruto's direction. A small part of his hand extended out, becoming wood-like with a seal blazing into life as it rushed forward before it connected with the blonde's forehead (Naruto's hitai-ate having fallen off during the transformation). The young genin gasped harshly as he felt the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune receding.

Naruto fell to a knee as he felt the last of fox's chakra get drawn back into the seal. After taking a moment to regain his breath, he looked up and asked, "What was that?"

The Sandaime stood and walked forward to stand beside the Anbu, "That, Naruto-kun, was the kekkai genkai of this Anbu. He was an experiment of Orochimaru's but was thrown aside when he didn't immediately exhibit signs of possessing the bloodline limit of the First Hokage. The Shodaime also possessed the unique gift of being able to 'tame' the bijuu, so to speak. Now then, we should discuss what should be done in regards to Team 8."

Naruto picked up his hitai-ate before he stood back up and stared determinedly at his surrogate grandfather, "I'm going, even if I have to do it without your approval Jii-san. I'm not going to lose Hinata-chan."

Sarutobi Hiruzen just nodded, "Very well Naruto-kun. But I will send two jounin with you to help reinforce the contingent of chunin already there. You are to inform the chunin there that they are to eradicate the bandit camp." The Sandaime strode back to his desk and unrolled a scroll; he ran his finger along it before he stopped at one name and pressed his finger to it. Not even a minute later, a man appeared in a cloud of smoke.

His brown hair that came down to be level with his chin was covered by his hitai-ate, which was unrolled like a bandana. He wore the standard jounin outfit and had a katana attached to his back. The man looked very sick and it seemed to Naruto that the man might keel over at any given time.

The man coughed for a moment before he stood at attention and asked, his voice surprisingly strong despite his pallid appearance, "What do you require Hokage-sama?"

The Sandaime was silent for a moment before he nodded to himself, "Tenzo, remove your Anbu gear." The Anbu did so without question, revealing a brown-haired man wearing the standard jounin outfit who had an upside-down 'u' metal face guard that had the Konoha symbol etched over the part covering his forehead.

The Sandaime resumed speaking, his tone of voice leaving no doubt to those gathered that this man deserved the title of Hokage, "Gekkou Hayate, Yamato Tenzo, and Uzumaki Naruto, you three shall head out to assist Team 8 with the rescue of Hyuuga Hinata as well as the eradication of the bandits, this will be regarded as an A-rank mission and you shall be paid accordingly. Time is of the essence so you will have to travel fast. I wish the best of luck to the three of you." The three mentioned shinobi saluted and the two jounin turned towards Naruto as they studied him.

"Are you going to be able to keep rookie?" Tenzo asked with a small smirk.

Naruto just raised one of his eyebrows, "I should be asking you that. Remember, I'm the one who's outran whole hordes of jounin and Anbu."

The Anbu just nodded, "Alright then. We'll travel light and fast, if we leave right now we should get there tonight and we can pick up supplies at the chunin's outpost. Is that okay with you two?" The sick jounin and blonde genin nodded. "Then let's move out." He opened a window and leapt out of it, followed by Hayate.

Before Naruto could leave though, Kakashi said, "Good luck." Naruto paused before he nodded to show he heard. He then leapt out of the window and quickly caught up with the two experienced shinobi. Instead of waiting to get through the gate, the three shinobi made their way up and over the large walls of Konoha before speeding on through the forests surrounding their home.

----- (Scene Break) -----

In a dark and cold room where the only light was provided by a dim lightbulb that only seemed to emphasize the shadows lurking in the corners of the room, Hyuuga Hinata stirred as she returned to the realm of consciousness. Her eyes blearily took in her surroundings as her mind slowly tried to figure out where she was and how she got there.

She remembered arriving in the town with her team and making their way to the chunin outpost located in the town. They reported in and informed the senior chunin there of their mission. The head chunin read over the orders provided by the Hokage and brought them up to speed regarding the recent rise of the bandits located not far from the city.

After they had been given all relevant information gathered by the chunins, Kurenai-sensei had led them out a short ways from the town and set up a small camp. She then sent them off in two-man shifts to scout out as much as they could without being discovered. Unfortunately, when it came time for Kiba and Hinata to be paired together, there had been…difficulties.

Namely, Kiba kept going on in a loud whisper about the two of them going out for a 'date' when the mission was over. He never seemed to hear Hinata's protests about already being with someone and he had even tried to grope her once. The Hyuuga heiress smiled slightly as she recalled the neck-spinning, chakra-infused slap she had given the Inuzuka (followed by the chakra-powered she gave to his...yeah).

The smile turned to a frown though as she remembered being so preoccupied with the dog-boy that she hadn't heard the bandit sneak up behind her and clap a washcloth over her face. The lavender-eyed girl tried to struggle, but found she was getting woozy and lightheaded. She could feel her body getting dragged as darkness took over.

'_I guess I've been captured, what a weakling I am,'_ Hinata thought morosely as tears began to gather in her eyes. Before they could fall though, Hinata's mind drifted to her boyfriend and her eyes hardened. _'No, I won't go back to being that shy, weak girl. I will make Naruto-kun proud of me.'_

Suddenly, the door leading into the room banged open and let in a small breeze. Hinata shivered before she froze as still as stone as two awful realizations slammed into her at that moment: the first was that she was being held up by chains that clamped tightly on her wrists, and the second was that her only article of clothing at the moment was her silk lavender panties.

A woman's voice broke Hinata from her stunned stated, "Oh, you're awake…good." In walked a stunningly beautiful woman whose black hair looked as dark as the blackest void with eyes to match. She was wearing a blood red corset and tight leather pants that seemed to bring out curves in the woman that Hinata hadn't thought possible.

"W-where am I?" Hinata timidly asked.

The woman walked forward and gently ran a hand along Hinata's cheek, making the young girl shiver slightly (and not the good kind of shiver). "Oh, you're so cute," the woman cooed softly. "I'm going to have lots of fun with you." Without another word she turned around and exited the room, plunging the room back into its mostly darkened state when she shut the door.

Hinata was silent for moment before her body became racked with silent sobs. "Naruto-kun," she whispered into the darkness, "please...help me."

------------

'_Hang on Hinata-chan, I'm coming,' _Naruto determinedly thought as he rushed through the trees directly behind the two jounin. _'And Kami help those who get in my way.'_

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**(Chapter End)**

**Unknown-nin345: Well there you go folks, chapter 4 of This is Me Finding You. Like I mentioned up above, the poll for Kubikiri Houcho's new form has been decided. It shall change to dual kodachi's that connect at the hilts, and those of you who have Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children will be getting a nice suprise.**

**Song of the Chapter: ****The End Has Come****, by Ben Moody (if you head to playlist .com, it will be listed as the Punisher Soundtrack, it really fits the movie)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Unknown-nin345: Hello there everybody, I would like to give out thanks to all those who had reviewed for my story: Thanks Everybody!**

**I'm keeping the author's note short this time so let's get on with the fic!**

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Naruto could feel rage well up in his body as he stalked towards the outpost's mess hall, where he had heard the Inuzuka heir was currently chowing down on dinner. He was deaf to the rest of the world; the only thing resonating in his thoughts was the knowledge that it was because of Kiba that Hinata had been captured. Tenzou, Hayate, and the blonde genin had just finished getting debriefed on the situation from Kurenai, and now he currently on his way to give the dog boy a piece of his mind…and maybe some of his other body parts.

The blonde entered the mess hall and found the Inuzuka off by himself, munching down on his food with all the grace and poise of a wild dog. Naruto strode towards the unaware brunette, giving a small nod of greeting to Shino (who was having a stimulating conversation with a very attractive chunin kunoichi that only looked a couple years older than him) as he passed the Aburame boy, and came to a stop in front of Kiba. The brown-haired boy didn't notice he was there, but Kiba's companion did.

Akamaru looked up and was just about to bark in greeting when he caught the aura the blonde was giving off. The white-furred dog tucked his tail in between his hind legs and crawled under the table to escape the fox-scented one's wrath.

Kiba finally seemed to become aware of the world when he noticed that his companion had crawled under the table. He looked up and smiled when he saw the blonde staring down at him, "Hey Naruto! What are you doing way out here?"

"What am I doing?" Naruto calmly questioned. "I'm out here to fix your screw up asshole."

Kiba blinked in confusion, "What are you talking about?" Immediately after the last sound escaped his lips, he found himself slammed up against the wall with a fuming Naruto gripping him by the throat.

All around the mess hall the chunin didn't interfere since they had all heard about what the Inuzuka boy had done, although they watched carefully in case Naruto went too far. Their watchfulness wasn't because they thought the blonde was the Kyuubi no Kitsune like many of their misguided comrades back in Konoha. They didn't care one way or the other if Naruto held a demon within him since they had seen plenty of 'demonic' atrocities committed by ordinary humans out this far from Konoha.

No, their watchfulness was because it wouldn't look good if Naruto accidentally strangled the Inuzuka heir to death.

"What am I talking about?" Naruto whispered, "I'm talking about Hinata-chan getting captured you bastard! Because you were too busy thinking with that pathetic excuse of flesh that you call a dick, Hinata-chan was captured by those bandits!"

Naruto saw that Kiba was trying to say something, so he loosened his hold on the Inuzuka's neck enough for the boy to choke out, "Well…if she could actually…do something aside…from…being so hot…she wouldn't have bee—Gah!" He was cut off as Naruto slammed a fist straight into his nose, causing blood to spurt from it as the cartilage broke with a loud crack.

Naruto leaned closer to Kiba, "If she is hurt at all, I will make you wish that you had never been born a man." The blonde dropped the whimpering dog boy onto the floor and left the mess hall.

Shino looked over at the downed Kiba before he turned back to the hot kunoichi he was conversing with, and said his usual monotone, "That is why I prefer foxes over dogs." The kunoichi nodded in acceptance before she changed the topic of their conversation.

Naruto quickly made his way to the roof of the chunin outpost and began staring up at the stars. He recalled what Hinata had told him only a couple days ago before she had set out with her team on the mission as a determined frown settled upon his lips.

He still wasn't sure if he loved the lavender-eyed girl yet, after all what would he know of love? But, when he thought about it, he found it hard to imagine his life without Hinata in it. In fact, doing so made him feel as if he was painfully wrenching his heart out of his chest.

Naruto shook his head and pushed that thought to the side for the moment as he did his best to calm himself and to clear his mind. Soon a group would be sent out to eradicate the bandits and Naruto would be with them, but sent in by himself to rescue Hinata. With his zanbatou and ability to mass produce Kage Bushins, the upper shinobi figured he'd be able to look after himself just fine.

And Naruto was dead set on not failing to rescue one of his precious people.

--- (A While Later) ---

Naruto slowly crept through the forest as he made his way to where he had been assigned. The plan was for the chunins and the three jounins (Tenzou, Hayate, and Kurenai) to bear the main brunt of the eradication of the bandits and draw them away from the path selected for Naruto. While the elder shinobi were doing their assigned tasks, Naruto was to make his way into the bandit's complex as he dispatched any bandits that got in his way (Shino and Kiba were left back at the chunin outpost).

Soon, the blonde arrived at the spot picked out for him and began observing the bandit encampment. The bandits were mostly lodged in tents that were spread out in a haphazard circle around a somewhat decrepit-looking structure that, while still relatively intact, looked like it had seen better days.

Naruto pulled Kubikiri Houcho from where it rested on his back and regarded it silently. _'Sword, if you or the spirit of the one who wielded you before me can hear my plea, please grant me the strength and skill I will need to rescue Hinata-chan,'_ Naruto mentally requested. As he turned his gaze back to the bandit encampment, Naruto could have sworn that the kanji on the blade glowed with a gray light for a second.

Before Naruto had any time to ponder if he really had seen the glow, a number of explosions took place in the bandit camp. Naruto looked up and saw columns of smoke rising into the night sky as well as the bandits moving away from the path that had been designated to be his way into the building.

With a small grunt, Naruto rushed out from his hiding spot and took off running. As he ran, his sword resting on his shoulder, Naruto brought one of his hands up in a half-ram sign and, not a second later, a dozen kage bushins shimmered into existence keeping pace with the original.

Some of the remaining bandits noticed the group of blondes approaching their camp and haughtily decided to take the intruders out. After all someone so short shouldn't be able to use such a large zanbatou effectively right?

Oh how they were wrong.

The bandits were rather surprised to find their weapons were very ineffective against the large blade. Of course, this surprise only lasted for a couple seconds as they were either beheaded, cut in half horizontally or vertically, or whatever other gruesome image you can imagine that involves bodies flying with a great deal of blood spurting into the air.

Naruto himself was somehow able to avoid getting greatly splattered with blood although a small bit made its way onto his face and into his hair, perversely changing his normally golden hair to a reddish-orange color. His new hair color, along with his icy-blue eyes, served to greatly intimidate the weaker-willed bandits, but only seemed to irritate the more deluded (read: drunk) bandits. So it was that Naruto was forced to hack a bloody path to the door leading into the complex.

When he arrived at the door, covered in the blood of various bandits, the blonde looked around at his kage bushin task force and saw that it had been cut in half. A quick handseal later and those bushins lost had been replaced. Naruto instructed them to stand guard at the entrance before he entered the building.

As soon as he entered, a small group of bandits rushed out of a nearby room. Naruto wasted no time and ripped through the bandits with his large blade, tearing right through the walls of the hallway as if they weren't even there. Naruto looked at the slaughter he caused indifferently and was just about to move on when he a bubbling chuckle come from one of the bandits.

The blonde turned and saw one of the bandits sitting up against a wall with his stomach torn wide open, his bloody entrails spilling out onto his lap. Naruto walked up to him and raised his sword slightly as he said, "Speak your words and I will ease your passing."

The bandit didn't seem to hear him at first, but then he looked up at the genin smirked, "If you're here to save the girl, you're too late. Once the boss starts on her there won't be a drop of blood left in her body." He once more lapsed into his raspy chuckling before he slumped to the side…dead.

Naruto didn't stay to make sure the bandit was dead, as soon as the dead man's final words reached the blonde's ears he took off running. Naruto threw open every door he came upon, frantically hoping that he would find Hinata before the bandit's words rang true.

When he finally found the room she was being held in, he was stopped in the middle of the doorway by the sight before him.

Hinata was being held up by chains with her only article of clothing being her lavender silk panties, but that wasn't all that made him stop in shock. There was a woman standing over Hinata, clad in clothing that emphasized how much of a woman she was, with small blood-stained carving knives in both of her hands.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room, Naruto was able to see faint scar lines running all over Hinata's bare body that looked like they had been recently applied. The blonde was shocked when he saw that some of the scars were closing up much like how his own healing factor worked. Before he could ponder how this could be though, the woman noticed the intruder.

She spun quickly and bared her mouth at him, revealing elongated canines that jutted down just past her lower lip. Naruto only had time to bring his sword down in front of him to block the extremely fast charge made by the woman. The blonde grunted as his sword was slammed into his body which was sent flying backwards straight through a wall, followed by another one.

Naruto groaned as he reached for his zanbatou. Upon grasping the hilt, Naruto was startled to learn the blade had been broken in half by the woman's attack. The blonde reached over to grab the other half of his sword and closed his eyes tightly as he mentally pleaded, _'Please! Help me!'_

Naruto's sapphire eyes snapped open when he felt Kubikiri Houcho changing. He watched in stunned silence as the blades grew shorter until they were the length of a kodachi blade, the hilt shrinking down as well while forming a guard in the shape of a fox's head with the blade emerging from the mouth **(a/n: if you go Google Doggy Krueger's sword from Power Rangers SPD, you'll get a good idea of what I'm trying to describe)**. The strangest thing about his twin kodachi was that, instead of both only having one blade, each kodachi had two blades coming out of the fox mouth on the guards.

**(A/N: There you go, my tribute to Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. If you go watch it or Google it, it should be pretty obvious which sword I used as my inspiration)**.

Naruto was pulled out of his observations of his new swords when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The blonde quickly regained his feet in time to see the woman with the knives halfway through the first room Naruto had flown through.

Naruto brought his two kodachi up to a guarding position and was surprised when a white flame suddenly appeared in the space between the two blades on each sword, making it look like he was wielding two swords of white fire. Naruto didn't get much time to think about his new swords because the woman with the knives was suddenly upon him.

Naruto swung one of his kodachi to meet the knife of the bandit leader and expected the blades to clash; instead they both were surprised to find his blade slice clean through the woman's knife. Naruto kept a better control over his surprise than the bandit leader did. He sliced the other knife in half as well before he spun and reverse-gripped one of his blades, which he stabbed straight into the woman's heart.

Naruto jerked his blade out of her chest and waited for the sound of the woman's body falling to the floor to reach his ears. When it didn't come, he turned his head back to look at the bandit leader and was surprised to see her still standing (and it looked like the wound he had just given her was healing). The blonde did the first thing that came into his head; he spun once more and with his other flaming kodachi, beheaded the bandit leader.

Without stopping to watch the beheaded body fall down to its knees and then flat on the floor, Naruto rushed to where Hinata was still being held up by chains as his kodachis lost their white flames. The kodachis somehow were able to stick to his back with no problem even thought there wasn't anything holding them up.

When he reached his girlfriend, Naruto quickly unshackled Hinata and held her shaking blood-caked body close to his as tears gathered in his ocean-blue eyes, uncaring about the fact that she was only one article of clothing away from being nude. Naruto looked down at Hinata and frowned in concern when he noticed that her eyes didn't seem to be registering anything around them (he also noticed that her hair seemed blacker now than it had been before).

Suddenly, Naruto was able to faintly hear the Kyuubi chuckling within him, _'Oh, how deliciously ironic. The girl who ends up falling for the container of one of the most feared demons is turned into a monster herself. And a vampire nonetheless!'_

'_So why are you so cheery about that?'_ Naruto mentally asked. _'I thought you hated Hinata-chan with a passion.'_

'_Oh I still do, make no mistake Naruto-kun,'_ the nine-tailed vixen reassured, _'It's just that I so do love irony, and it doesn't get more ironic than this. Now that Hyuuga girl will get a chance to see what it's like to have something done to her without her being able to do anything about it.'_ Naruto cut off the mental connection when the vixen in his head began chuckling once more.

The blonde looked down at the lavender-eyed girl, whose head had been moving closer to Naruto's neck during his conversation with the Kyuubi, and turned his head to the side once he realized what she was doing. Naruto didn't even flinch or gasp when he felt the elongated canines of Hinata sink into his neck, he just held on to her lightly scarred body.

When Hinata disconnected from Naruto's neck with a satisfied sigh, Naruto slowly pulled out a scroll from one of the pockets of his pants and rolled it out on the ground next to them. Naruto placed his hands on the first seal that appeared and brought out a spare t-shirt, jacket and sweatpants. As he started to gently dress his girlfriend, Naruto began to lowly sing to keep her calm since she was still slightly out of it.

_I'd go anywhere for you  
Anywhere you asked me to  
I'd do anything for you  
Anything you want me to_

Naruto started with her torso because, although he would deny it to everyone else, he did find Hinata's bare breasts a little bit distracting. Naruto blushed a bit as he drew his spare shirt over his girlfriends round alabaster breasts with bright red nipples.

_I'd walk halfway around the world  
For just one kiss from you  
Far beyond the call of love  
The sun, the stars, the moon_

He knew that Hinata might become self-conscious of her newly gained scars. But in Naruto's opinion the faint white lines seemed to enhance her beauty as he lightly traced over one on her smooth hip.

_As long as your love's there to lead me  
I won't lose my way believe me  
Even through the darkest night you know_

_I'd go anywhere for you  
Anywhere you asked me to  
I'd do anything for you  
Anything you want me to_

Naruto had to keep a tight rein on his hormones as he pulled the spare set of pants up Hinata's curvy legs that led up to her small, tight butt.

_Your love as far as I can see  
Is all I'm ever gonna need  
There's one thing for sure  
I know it's true  
Baby, I'd go anywhere for you_

After he had zipped up the jacket over Hinata's body, Naruto gently placed one of his arms underneath the lavender-eyed girl's shoulders and the other underneath her legs as he slowly lifted her up. Naruto turned to the door and began walking out as Hinata unconsciously snuggled into her boyfriend.

_I used to think that dreams were just  
For sentimental fools  
And I'd never find someone  
Who'd give their love so true_

_But I knew the very minute  
Couldn't live my life without you in it  
And now I want the whole wide world  
To know_

As he walked, Naruto thought on his new swords. He didn't think about at the time, but when he had first held them he had noticed that now they actually felt right in his hands. The blonde genin supposed he was going to have to give his kodachis a new name since Kubikiri Houcho didn't fit them anymore.

_I'd go anywhere for you  
Anywhere you asked me to  
I'd do anything for you  
Anything you want me to_

_Your love as far as I can see  
Is all I'm ever gonna need  
There's one thing for sure  
I know it's true  
Baby, I'd go anywhere for you_

Naruto exited the building just as he finished singing and found all of his clones still holding their ground (and each still with a copy of Kubikiri Houcho instead of the new kodachis) since the majority of the bandits had been drawn to where the chunins were attacking from. Naruto gave them a quick mental command and a couple rushed into the building while the rest formed a guard around Naruto and Hinata.

As one the group began to make their way to location that had been decided would where Naruto would hand Hinata off to Kurenai before he entered the fight against the bandits for real. Behind them, the kage bushins that had ran into the building exploded tremendously, bringing the decrepit building crashing down and bringing cheers from the Konoha shinobi.

Naruto made it the red-eyed jounin without incident and handed his girlfriend over to Kurenai reluctantly. In a hurried whisper, Naruto relayed to Kurenai the news about Hinata. Thankfully, Kurenai didn't react in a negative way, she just hugged Hinata tighter to her and let a few tears fall. After thanking Naruto, the raven-haired jounin made her back to the chunin outpost.

As Naruto watched her go, he began to feel red-hot anger rise up in him. _'Why should one as pure and innocent, in a way, as Hinata be forced to suffer like this?'_ he thought as he began to unconsciously started to summon the Kyuubi's youkai, turning his blue eyes red.

"Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies **hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the…FLOOR!!" **Naruto shouted as drew his twin kodachi, bright red flames lighting up the space between the blades, and rushed back into the camp as his clones followed.

---

When he finally made it back to the chunin outpost, Naruto was covered in the slowly-drying blood of the bandits he had slaughtered. The first thing he had done was to grab a shower and get a change of clothes. Immediately after that, Naruto quickly made his way to Hinata's room (after getting the directions from Shino).

He entered the room and found Kurenai sitting a chair at Hinata's bedside. The red-eyed jounin looked over at the doorway and smiled softly when she saw Naruto standing there. She stood and exited the room, laying a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder before she left.

The blue-eyed genin silently made his way to the chair Kurenai had just vacated and lowered himself down onto it. He looked down at the face of the slumbering Hinata and gently ran one of his hands along her cheek, smiling softly as she tried to nuzzle his hand. Naruto withdrew his hand and summoned forth his guitar before he began slowly strumming, after a couple cords to warm up his fingers the blonde began singing.

_I could stay awake just to hear you breathing  
Watch you smile while you are sleeping  
Far away and dreaming  
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender  
I could stay lost in this moment forever  
Well, every moment spent with you  
Is a moment I treasure_

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you  
Feeling your heart beating  
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming  
Wondering if it's me you're seeing  
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together  
And I just wanna stay with you  
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna miss one smile  
I don't wanna miss one kiss  
Well, I just wanna be with you  
Right here with you, just like this  
I just wanna hold you close  
Feel your heart so close to mine  
And stay here in this moment  
For all the rest of time

At this point Hinata woke up but, upon hearing Naruto singing, kept her eyes closed as she listened to the song.__

Don't wanna close my eyes  
Don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
'Cause I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Don't wanna close my eyes  
Don't wanna fall asleep, yeah  
I don't wanna miss a thing

When he had finished, Naruto gently leaned his guitar against Hinata's bed and clasped one of her hands with the both of his.

"Hinata-chan, I'm not sure if you can hear me right now but there is something I would like to say," Naruto whispered. "When I first heard that you had been captured I was angry and so very afraid. I was angry that I couldn't be there to have stopped this and I was afraid that I would lose you forever. Whenever I would think I might lose you, it felt like my heart had been ripped right out of my chest as painfully as possible. What I'm trying to say is that I love you Hyuuga Hinata… and I can't live without you."

The blue-eyed teen felt the hand he was holding squeeze his hand and looked up to see Hinata's smiling and teary-eyed face. "You don't know how long I dreamt of hearing you say those words Naruto-kun. For so long, I watched you from afar and always admired your indomitable spirit and will. Often would I wish that had but a little bit of your courage in order to tell you three simple words: I love you," Hinata tearfully said to her love.

Naruto leaned in closer to her and gently connected his lips to hers. The two genins' eyes closed as the feeling of warmth washed over them, only this time the feeling was magnified since they had revealed their feelings to each other. Neither noticed how their chakra seemed to gently flare to life around their bodies, creating a flame-like image that hovered around both genin.

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**-::(Chapter End)::-**

**Unknown-nin345: Well, that's the end of chapter five. The idea of turning Hinata into a vampire literally came out of nowhere, but at least now I have an excuse if I want to give Hinata sexy clothes (snicker). **

**But anywho, now Hinata and Naruto have said those three special words to each other. Yay!**

**Maito Gai: *Appears from nowhere with a 'thumbs-up' and sparkly smile* "And now their flames of youth shall soar to new heights!"**

**Rock Lee: *Suddenly pops up out of nowhere as well* "Gai-sensei!" **

**Gai: *Turns to his student* "Lee!" **

***The two green beasts run in slow motion to each other as they prepare for a 'sunset-hug'***

**Unknown-nin345: "Oh hell no!" *Pulls out a rocket launcher from his special ninja storage space and fires a missile at the ground underneath the two green beasts, sending them flying***

**Unknown-nin345:"No sunset-genjutsu-hugs allowed!" *Turns to the reader* "Sorry about that. I think they're both awesome characters, but like mostly everyone else I fear the Hug."**

**Songs of the chapter:**

**Anywhere for you****, Backstreet Boys.**

**Brief mention of ****Bodies****, Drowning Pool.**

**I don't want to miss anything****, Aerosmith.**

**NARUHINA SHALL RULE THE WORLD!!!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6~~ This is Me Finding You

**Unknown-nin345: Hello all and welcome to Chapter 6. I'm glad so many of you left reviews for the last chapter and that you all liked it. To be honest, I was kind of worried that Hinata becoming a vampire might have made some of you Hinata fans come after me with pitchforks and torches. **

**Anywho, this chapter is pretty much going to be a filler-chap to tide you over to the Chunin Exams which'll begin next chapter. Warning: There will be a schmorgasboard of songs this chapter. On with the fic!**

The trip back to Konoha was fairly quiet for Team 8 seeing as Kiba kept as far away from Naruto as he physically could. The Inuzuka heir contented himself with shooting the blonde jealous glances every now and then as he tried to plot on how to separate the two lovebirds and get the lavender-eyed Hyuuga for himself.

Naruto passed the time by getting to know his new bug-wielding teammate better and cuddling with Hinata. Naruto noticed that his lavender-eyed girlfriend had been quieter than usual and that she made sure to always keep him within reach. Each and every time she reached for his hand, Naruto simply pulled her into a gentle hug and kept his arms around her while walking (every time they did this, a curious sniffling sound could be heard).

When they arrived back in Konoha, the group of shinobi immediately made their way to the Hokage's office where they were promptly admitted entrance by the hot secretary (whom Kiba ogled as they walked past, resulting in a slap to the head from Naruto and Shino). The Sandaime smiled at them all as they entered, his grin widening when his eyes fell on Naruto and Hinata.

"Ah, Kurenai-san, I'm glad that your team is back to full capacity. And Naruto-kun, I see that your mission was successful," Sarutobi began by way of greeting, but was interrupted by the Inuzuka heir.

"What!? That dobe got to go on a mission by himself?" Kiba questioned in anger. He was about to go on when he felt some sort of pressure descend on him that made him freeze in fear. A quick, terrified glance around the room showed that the other genin and the lone jounin present weren't doing anything at all.

"Inuzuka-san, you should learn to be more respectful of your superiors," the Sandaime frostily stated. The young genin gulped in fear when he discovered that the mysterious pressure was being generated by the Hokage. "In other nations, such blatant disrespect has often led to severe disciplinary actions." The old leader sighed and the pressure seemed to dissipate in mid-air. "But since we are not like other nations I shall leave it to your new sensei to decide how you shall you will be punished."

"W-what do you mean by new sensei H-Hokage-s-sama?" Kiba asked, stuttering from the small remnants of fear still lodged inside him.

"Kurenai here brought to my attention a little fact I had not been privy to during the formation of the genin teams," Hiruzen began, nodding his head at Kurenai. "Apparently, both Team 7 and Team 8 are over-specialized. Team 7 has all fighters and no trackers, and then Team 8 has only trackers with no fighters to back them up. As such, Kurenai proposed a trade be made between Teams 7 and 8, she would get a fighting-orientated genin and they would get a tracker-orientated one: namely you."

"But why me?! Why not Shino?" the Inuzuka heir asked.

"Because, genin, Kurenai has also brought to my attention the fact that you choose not to focus on the mission whenever your team is gathered. Instead you seem to see fit to only pay attention to your sensei's and teammate's bodies while you have deemed the rest of your senses and thought processes useless," the Sandaime replied with a hard look in his eyes. "As such, it will be you who goes to Team 7 where your sensei will hopefully be able to teach you to at least focus on something other than a woman's body." (Wouldn't that be ironic?)

Kiba could feel anger well up in him, after all his dad (before he had been killed while out on a mission) had always told him that women were only good for breeding and it didn't matter what their skill level was, all that mattered was how sexy their body was. His teeth began grinding together as he asked, "So who am I being switched with?"

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and said, "He's standing in this very room Inuzuka-san."

It took a couple minutes for the realization to sink into his head and when it did, the dog boy turned to Naruto with a glare. "I guess it makes sense to group the losers together, after all you can't even make a simple Bushin," Kiba taunted with a sneer.

Said expression was soon wiped off the Inuzuka's face as two copies of Naruto shimmered into existence alongside the original before all three seemed to vanish and reappear with the dog boy pinned against the wall. The clones were keeping their attention on Kiba's limbs while the original held a kunai knife up against Kiba's throat.

Kiba's yell died in his throat as he stared into Naruto's suddenly amethyst eyes. The blonde's lips were pulled back in a snarl as he threateningly whispered, "I warned you teme that I would make you wish you had never been born a man if Hinata-chan had been hurt, but I think I'll just settle for doing the world a favor by removing your voice from it."

A commanding cough drew the blonde's attention and he found himself staring at the Sandaime who was shaking his head. "As much as I would like to let you carry on with what you are doing Naruto-kun, it will be up to his jounin sensei to decide his punishment," Hiruzen said. "So please release Inuzuka Kiba." Once Naruto had reluctantly let go of the dog boy, the old leader commanded the boy and his partner to leave the office.

After Kiba had left, the Sandaime asked for a full report on the mission. Kurenai went first, giving her account of what occurred up until the assault on the bandit camp. From there Naruto (his eyes having faded back to their sapphire blue) took over, after asking the Hokage to put up a silencing barrier around the office, and recounted his actions during the attack on the camp, including the information he had learned from the Kyuubi about Hinata's new condition. When he had finished Naruto turned to the silent Hinata to gauge her reaction, a couple minutes of silence passed before the lavender-eyed girl shocked everyone when she turned and ran from the room.

Naruto was frozen for only a second before he snapped off a bow to the Hokage and his new sensei, and then followed after his girlfriend. Shino shot Kurenai a questioning glance which she nodded to before she bowed to the Hokage, "By your leave Hokage-sama." At his nod, the two remaining members of Team 8 exited the room to follow Naruto and Hinata but, upon opening the door, found their way to be blocked by one Hyuuga Hiashi.

---

Naruto cursed as he was forced to come to a stop due to the large caravan of wagons that he nearly ran headlong into. The blonde quickly made his way up and over the caravan and was about to continue to look for his girlfriend when he realized that the caravan had made him lose sight of her. He was about to launch into a long stream of expletives when he noticed a small beetle climb out from his jacket collar and hover in the air before his face, making little jerking motions like it wanted Naruto to follow it. Naruto nodded at the beetle and began to follow the surprisingly fast insect.

Soon, the beetle began to lead him out of the populated part of Konoha to one of the outlying training grounds. Naruto sped through the forest, easily able to follow the trail of broken branches and bent plants. All his thoughts were on reaching the one who had captured his heart. Soon he arrived at small clearing and saw his lavender-eyed love standing there crying.

Naruto slowly walked up behind her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder, but flinched in pain when she jerked out from under his hand. "H-how?" he heard her whisper.

"How what?" the blonde asked back.

"How c-could you still want to be with m-me? I'm a m-monster now," she tearfully whispered.

Naruto frowned sadly, "Hinata-chan, it's no different than when you accepted me even though I have the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a demon, sealed inside of me."

"It IS different!" she shouted as she moved farther away. "You only have a monster sealed inside of you, I AM one! Please…just go away."

Naruto could feel tears begin to gather in his own eyes, "Why? Hinata-chan I love you, and I don't care about whether you're human or not. When we confessed our love to each other I swore to myself that I would never leave your side. Please… please don't leave me."

When he saw that she wasn't responding to anything, he tried to say something… anything, but the pain in his chest was making it hard to speak. So, he started to sing.

(A/N: From now own, unless I otherwise specify: **Naruto singing,** _Hinata singing,_ Both singing)

**Never knew I could feel like this  
Like I've never seen the sky before  
Want to vanish inside your kiss  
Everyday I love you more and more**

**Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings  
Telling me to give you everything  
Seasons may change winter to spring  
But I love you until the end of time**

**Come what may, come what may  
I will love you until my dying day**

Naruto waited for Hinata to respond, but after waiting a couple minutes with no response, the blonde genin sadly turned to leave. Before he could even take one step though, he heard the voice of the one who held his heart begin to sing.

_Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place  
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace_  
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste  
_It all revolves around you_

Hinata turned to face Naruto, her eyes still bearing signs of tears but a small smile was on her lips. Up in the trees surrounding the clearing, Kurenai (who had arrived with Shino when Naruto had started singing) went through a series of handseals and activated a genjutsu that made it so cherry blossom petals began to spiral around Naruto and Hinata.

And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide  
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side  
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide  
**But I love you**, _I love you,_ **until the end, **_until the end_ of time

Come what may, come what may  
I will love you until my dying day  
Oh come what may, come what may  
**I will loooove** _I will love you_

The two now stood in before each other, staring into each other's eyes just like on the night of their first kiss. Naruto brought up one of his hands and gently brushed a lock of Hinata's hair behind her ear.

_Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place..._

Come what may, come what may  
I will love you until my dying day

The two genin gently embraced and just stayed that way for a while. Off in the trees, a teary-eyed Kurenai and a bawling-his-eyes-out Shino (Shino: "I'm not crying dammit!" Kurenai: "Yes you are,") left the clearing, the two lovebirds didn't deserve anymore bad news today.

After a couple minutes of silence Naruto pulled back from the hug far enough so that he could look into Hinata's lavender eyes. "Hinata-chan, just like when you told me you didn't care about whom my parents were when I told you about my heritage and the demon in my gut, I don't care what you are. I love you, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to stop me from loving you," Naruto whispered. "Even if I died, I would fight the Shinigami himself just to see your smile and hear your voice."

Hinata's eyes filled up with tears once again as she leaned her head on the blondes chest as she cried. Over and over she whispered how sorry she was to have doubted him. Naruto simply held her close as he let his own tears fall.

Once her tears had stemmed to a halt, Hinata started speaking, "I'm sorry I ran Naruto-kun, it's just… I was afraid that you might find me disgusting or something because I'm now a creature that needs to drink blood in order to survive. I know it was stupid of me to think that, but-"

The lavender-eyed girl was interrupted by Naruto's lips capturing her own.

Naruto pulled back and gently caressed Hinata's cheek, "I will never think you're stupid Hinata-chan. You were scared and afraid that I would leave you, that's all. And I will tell you again that I will never willingly leave you and should I be forcibly taken away, I will fight with everything I have, even after my last breath has left me, to come back to you."

Hinata just reburied her face in Naruto's chest as she silently let tears fall. After a minute or so of just standing there Naruto whispered, "C'mon, why don't we go get some lunch? You can get some cinnamon rolls if you want." Suddenly the blonde found out that Hinata's strength had increased (whether from that fact that she was now a vampire, or that she just wanted cinnamon rolls) when he was pulled by his girlfriend at high speeds to the nearest store that sold the delicious bread topped with sweet sugar.

~~ {The Next Day} ~~

Naruto's eyes blearily cracked opened as he came back from the realm of dreams. The first thing his still sleepy mind realized was that he was warmer than usual and proceeded to order his body to snuggle closer to the warmth… drawing a muffled hum from the warmth. Naruto's eyes snapped open as his ears caught the hum, beds usually didn't hum.

The blonde slowly lifted his head from its position on the comfy pillow and smiled when his eyes settled on the reason for the extra bit of warmth: his beautiful girlfriend, Hyuuga Hinata. He leaned over to gently place a small kiss on her nose, causing her to wrinkle it cutely before her lavender eyes slowly opened. Once her lavender orbs met his, a smile spread its way across her lips, Naruto matching it with one of his own.

Hinata moved closer to Naruto and the two engaged in their new favorite pastime: making out. When she pulled back from her boyfriend's lips, Hinata's eyes darted down to Naruto's neck before going back to his eyes. The blonde just smiled slightly and turned his head to the side. The lavender eyes of Hinata lit up in joy as she plunged her elongated canines into her boyfriend's neck, sucking up the sweet liquid that flowed out of the blonde's vein.

When she pulled back with a satisfied sigh, Naruto chuckled lightly and wiped a bit of stray bit of blood off of his girlfriend's cheek, drawing a blush from the embarrassed young vampiress.

After his chuckling had died down, Naruto asked, "What time do you usually have your team meetings Hinata-chan?"

Hinata glanced over Naruto's shoulder at his alarm clock and said, "In about an hour or so Naruto-kun." Her eyes returned to his as she continued, "I guess this means we have to get out of bed now."

The blonde Jinchuuriki pouted slightly, "Do we have to? I want to stay like this a little while longer."

Hinata just giggled before she pulled herself out of Naruto's arms and stood up from the bed, making Naruto's eyes widen comically at the sight of her topless body. The lavender-eyed girl slowly walked to the bedroom door, grinning to herself at the knowledge that her boyfriends attention was solely on her panty-clad butt. At the door she turned slightly, enough to keep her nipple hidden from view but exposing most of one of her slowly swaying breasts, and smiled at the stunned Naruto.

"If you want, we can take a shower together Naruto-kun," Hinata suggested. Before she had even turned back around, Hinata found herself being carried bridal-style to the bathroom.

--- (One enjoyable (although devoid of any lemon-y activities) shower later) ---

After the two genin finished their shower, they made a quick breakfast before getting dressed, grabbing their gear, and exiting Naruto's apartment to head to Team 8's training ground. The two held hands the entire way, ignoring the looks being sent at them by some of Konoha's populace. At one point, Naruto felt a tiny, barely noticeable bit of KI (killer intent) aimed in their direction and looked about to see if he could locate where it was coming from.

Finally the blonde's eyes settle on a team of genin standing a little ways away. After dismissing two of the members (a boy wearing green spandex that Naruto knew and a girl whose hair was pulled back into twin buns), Naruto found himself looking into the white eyes of the Hyuuga on the team. Further inspection showed that the boy wasn't glaring at him, but at Hinata. Naruto narrowed his sapphire eyes and decided to level the playing field; no one had the right to look at Hinata like that.

After a quick bit of focusing, Naruto sent a concentrated blast of KI that was slightly infused with the Kyuubi's youkai directly at the Hyuuga boy. Said Hyuuga suddenly seemed to freeze up and, if the expressions on his teammates faces were any indication, did something involuntary…and messy.

For the rest of the journey to Team 8's training ground, Hinata wondered at the smirk that had suddenly formed on her boyfriend's lips.

Team 8's training ground arrived all too soon for the young lovebirds. Upon arriving, the two found that the other two members of Team 8 were already waiting for them. Any cheerful greeting Naruto or Hinata might have given, however, died at the despondent mood that Shino and Kurenai possessed.

"What's the matter Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto asked as he and Hinata walked closer.

The red-eyed jounin sighed and looked directly at her female student, "Hinata-chan, yesterday when Shino and I went to leave the Hokage's office to catch up to you and Naruto, we ran into your father and I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What is it sensei?" the lavender-eyed girl asked in a whisper.

"Somehow, the Hyuuga clan elders learned that you had been captured by the bandits during our C-rank mission. They seemed to think this adequate reason enough to…to banish you from the Hyuuga family. Your father tried to fight it as hard as he could, but he only managed to get the elders to agree to not placing the Caged Bird Seal on you. I'm sorry Hinata-chan," Kurenai finished sadly with her head bowed.

When Hinata didn't say anything for a couple minutes, Naruto turned her to him and asked, "Are you okay Hinata-chan?"

The lavender-eyed vampiress sighed sadly, "I'll be fine Naruto-kun. I will miss tou-san and my imouto, but now I no longer have to live by the clan's rule or worry about being branded with the Caged Bird Seal. I can do what I want to do now." She went silent for a moment before she said, "It's just…I had always thought this might be a possibility but I wasn't expecting it to be so soon. It's hard for me to say what I'm feeling right now."

"Don't worry Hinata-chan." The lavender-eyed girl looked up at her boyfriend as he continued speaking. "I will always be right here at your side. And don't ever expect me to leave you by yourself."

Shino walked forward and laid a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "As will I Hinata-san. We are teammates and thus we shall strive to aid each other in times of conflict."

"I couldn't have said it better myself Shino," Kurenai complimented as she joined the group. "Now then, let's get to training. If you three want to be ready by the time the Chunin Exams roll around then we have a lot of work to do."

The three genin were silent for a moment before Naruto asked, "How much time do we have sensei?"

"The next Exams will be held here in Konoha in a little over two weeks. And to get you three ready in time I'm going to call in some favors that some people owe me that I think could provide a great deal of help," the red-eyed jounin said with a smirk. The three genin of Team 8 suddenly felt a sinking feeling develop in their stomachs. Over the next couple of weeks the genin Team 8 were pushed to their limits in an effort on Kurenai's part to have them more than prepared for the Chunin Exams.

Naruto was taught wide-scale genjutsus since his control wouldn't let him handle anything smaller than that. Hinata got to learn some of Kurenai's specialized genjutsu since she was the most like Kurenai in terms of chakra capacity and control. Meanwhile, Shino was only able to learn genjutsus that would directly impact his body since his kikai bugs would consume the ambient chakra of any other genjutsu.

As for the favors, Kurenai called in her friend Uzuki Yugao who, after seeing that Naruto was interested in kenjutsu, brought in her boyfriend Gekko Hayate who happened to be Konoha's resident kenjutsu master. After quickly finding a two-sword style that would fit Naruto, Hayate taught Naruto in the best way that Naruto learned: through constant sparring. Of course this led to Naruto being covered in bruises and cuts which prompted Hinata to act as a nurse to the wounded blonde.

Kurenai also called in her best friend, Mitarashi Anko, to instruct Hinata in a new taijutsu style since it didn't make sense for the lavender-eyed girl to still use the Hyuuga's style seeing as Hinata was no longer part of the Hyuuga clan. Over time Hinata was able to come up with a style that still utilized the Hyuuga's jyuuken chakra tap, but allowed Hinata much more options since her new style wasn't restricted to simply tapping her opponent. Anko also managed to get Hinata to release her 'sexy side' after convincing her that she could be a great kunoichi and still look sexy as hell, using herself and Kurenai as prime examples (plus the fact that Naruto would greatly appreciate her new sexy look).

Meanwhile, for Shino, Kurenai brought in a man she introduced as her uncle (as if the ruby red eyes weren't a dead giveaway to them being related). The man, even though a retired shinobi, was still recognized as the world-wide master of the kusari-gama and (after some 'puppy-dog-eye' persuasion from his favorite niece) proceeded to teach Shino the art of fighting with the scythe-chain combo.

Outside of training the three members of Team 8 got to know each other better. Naruto and Hinata were surprised to learn that Shino could play any classical string instrument, from the Violin to the Harp. However, when the couple asked Shino to sing…well, let's just say that deaf people all the way in Iwagakure were clutching their ears in pain. Thus it was decided that Shino would never, ever, sing again.

On a positive side note, Kurenai adopted Hinata and invited the lavender-eyed girl to come stay with her at her home. Hinata agreed on the condition that Naruto would also live with them since the young couple had grown used to falling asleep next to each other.

~~~ {Timeskip: Day before the Chunin Exams} ~~~

Kurenai's smile was filled with pride as she looked over her students. "Team, I have to say that you all have exceeded my expectations. I have no doubt that you're more than ready to not only pass, but also ace the Chunin Exams," the red-eyed jounin said. The three genin smiled (of course Shino's couldn't be seen) back at their teacher as she continued talking, "As a reward for the hard work you three have put in I'm giving you today off from training."

The three genin bowed as one and said, "Thank you sensei."

"Also, I invited the senseis of the other rookie teams to come to the club so that their teams could have a night of relaxation before the Chunin Exams," Kurenai said. She turned to Hinata and Naruto, "I was hoping you two could go up on the stage and sing a couple songs, to show the other genin that there is a life outside of the shinobi one." The couple looked at each other before they turned back to their teacher and shrugged.

"Why not?" Naruto said. "Besides, this time Shino can join us up on the stage. I know a couple songs that have his type of string parts in them."

Shino's whole body language read shock as he asked, "You really want me to join you up there?"

The blonde Jinchuuriki walked over to the bug-user and clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Of course I do, you're my friend. We'll just need to get you a different outfit and make sure that you don't do any singing." The smile on his whiskered face stole the sting from the words.

If Shino's collar hadn't been in the way they would have seen a rare pout on his lips, "My kikai think I sing well."

"Of course they would," Naruto retorted with an eye roll. "Since they live IN you all they hear is the vibrations of your vocal cords. If they actually heard you voice I think they might say something different."

"That's mean Naruto," Shino said as he turned his head to the side. Because the other members of Team 8 had spent so much time with him they could tell the bug-user's tone was a kidding one.

"Naru-kun, be nice," Hinata admonished with her own smile. The blue-black haired girl turned to her bug-wielding teammate, "Ignoring what my boyfriend _(cue mental 'squee!')_ said about your singing abilities, he is correct. We would love to have you up on the stage with us."

After a couple minutes of contemplation, Shino nodded which prompted Naruto's smile as the blonde said, "Great. Now let's go, we gotta get you prepped for the songs." The three genin members of Team 8 headed off to their sensei's house to get ready for their gig later that night.

-- Later that night, at the club from Chapters 1 & 2 --

A large crowd was gathered in the club this night, including Team 7 (minus a certain Uchiha), Team 10, and Team Gai while Team 8 and their sensei were mysteriously absent. Many of the people in the crowd had heard that tonight Naruto and Hinata, both favorites of the regular patrons, would be putting on a special show, thus the large turnout.

A certain pink-haired Haruno looked up at her sensei and asked, "Why are we here again Kakashi-sensei?" _'Seriously, I could be spending this time stalking Sasuke-kun! Cha!'_

**(A/n: (shudder), I think just I lost ten years of my life typing that)**

Said silver-haired cyclops 'eye-smiled' down at her, "Because me and the other senseis thought that you all could use a little relaxation before the Chunin Exams tomorrow. Plus, from what I've heard the band here is supposed to be very good."

Before anyone else could say anything though, the lights in the club with it growing especially dark at the stage. Suddenly a large flaming '10' appeared where the stage would be and began counting down with the crowd echoing the countdown. Everything went silent for a moment before the sound of a violin and a cello could be heard playing a staccato of short notes.

Slowly two figures came into view, their forms cast into shadow by the spotlight shining down behind them. The figure on the violin moved onto playing a slightly haunting tune while the cello player continued with the short notes. After about a minute of this a pounding sound could be heard that fit with the tune the two string artists were playing before everything ceased, the lights going out as well.

When the lights came back the crowd could see that the two string artists had been joined by two people with electric guitars, one with a bass guitar, and a final person sitting at a drum set. A majority of the members of the three genin teams let out gasps when they saw that the members of the band were none of the than Team 8. Hinata was on one of the electric guitars while Naruto was not only on the bass, but also had a kage bushin on the other electric guitar and on the drum set, and rounding off the group was Shino on the violin with his clone on the cello.

Naruto was decked out in his normal attire minus his hitai-ate, with the addition of a silver fox-head pendant Hinata had purchased for him. Hinata however was wearing a stiletto-skirt-tanktop combo complete with teardrop earrings that left many of the men drooling. Shino's attired surprised a lot of the people in attendance; he was wearing his usual black shades along with a tight black dress shirt with matching pants and a white tie, without his customary jacket everyone was gifted with the sight of his arms that looked like they had been carved out of rock.

The two Shino's started playing once again while the real Naruto raised a fist into the air and shouted into his microphone, "Let's see those fists up in the air Konoha!!" Without further ado, he and the other members of the band began churning out a head-banging tune. After a couple seconds of this the pace slowed down as Hinata turned to a small keyboard next to her and Naruto started singing.

**I hate feeling like this  
I'm so tired of trying to fight this  
I'm asleep and all I dream of  
Is waking to you**  
**Comatose  
I'll never wake up without an overdose of yoooouuuuu**

**Tell me that you will listen**  
**Your touch is what I'm missing**  
**And the more I hide I realize**  
**I'm slowly losing you**

**I don't wanna live, I don't wanna breathe**  
'Less I feel you next to me  
You take _the pain I feel  
_**Waking up to you never felt so real**

**I don't wanna sleep, I don't wanna dream**  
'Cause my dreams don't comfort me  
The way _you make me feel_  
**Waking up to you never felt so real  
**  
I hate living without you  
Dead wrong to ever doubt you  
But my demons lay in waiting  
Tempting me away

Oh! How I adore you  
Oh! How I thirst for you  
Oh! How I need you

**Comatose  
I'll never wake up without an overdose of yoooouuu**

**I don't wanna live, I don't wanna breathe**  
'Less I feel you next to me  
You take _the pain I feel_  
**Waking up to you never felt so real  
**  
**I don't wanna sleep, I don't wanna dream**  
'Cause my dreams don't comfort me  
The way _you make me feel_  
**Waking up to you never felt so real**

**Breathing life, waking up  
My eyes open up**

**Comatose  
I'll never wake up without an overdose of yoooouuuu**

**I don't wanna live, I don't wanna breathe**  
'Less I feel you next to me  
You take _the pain I feel_  
**Waking up to you never felt so real  
**  
**I don't wanna sleep, I don't wanna dream**  
'Cause my dreams don't comfort me  
The way _you make me feel_  
(Waking up to you never felt so real)

Oh, how I adore you  
**(Waking up to you never felt so real)**  
Oh, how I thirst for you  
**(Waking up to you never felt so real)**  
_Oh, how I adore you_ **(Comatose)**  
**The way you make me feel  
(Waking up to you never felt so real)**

The crowd cheered wildly as the last notes of the song, along with the lights, faded away. When the last vestiges of cheering died away, the two Shino's started up slightly mournful melody before they were joined by Hinata on her keyboard. Suddenly, in a bright flash of orange light, the entire band was revealed with the three guitarists producing a powerful stream of chords.

**We have fallen  
**We have fallen again tonight  
**Where do we go from here  
**When they're tearing down our lives?

When all they want is  
When all they want is  
**For us to live in fear**  
**How long can we hold on?  
Can we hold on?  
Hold on**

There's something deep inside  
That keeps my faith alive  
When all you can do  
Is hide from the fear  
That's deep inside of you

Something, something, something  
Something, something, something

**To hold me close when I don't know  
There's something deep inside  
That keeps my faith alive  
**  
**We are healing  
But it's killing us inside**  
**Can we take a chance?  
****When faith and fear collide**

We can make it  
Step out and take it  
**We can't live feeling so numb**  
**How long can we hold on?  
Can we hold on?**  
**Hold on**

There's something deep inside  
That keeps my faith alive  
When all you can do  
Is hide from the fear  
That's deep inside of you

Something, something, something  
Something, something, something

**To hold me close when I don't know**  
There's something deep inside  
That keeps my faith alive

A break from the singing came as the band launched into an instruments only section of the song that had the three guitarists moving about their section of the stage. Soon they started a thumping build-up that led to Naruto and Hinata heading back to their mikes.

There's something deep inside  
That keeps my faith alive  
**When all you can do**  
**Is hide from the fear  
That's deep inside of you**

Something, something, something  
Something, something, something

**To hold me close when I don't know  
There's something deep inside  
That keeps my faith aliiiive **

The song and lights once again faded away to the cheering of the crowd. Soon, Naruto reappeared with his acoustic guitar slung over his shoulders and a wide smile on his face.

"What's up Konoha?!" Naruto asked the crowd, cheering being his answer. "We are Team Mirage and now we're going to slow things down a bit. I've got a secret and I got a microphone here so I'm going to tell you: I love mushy romantic love songs." He chuckled at the cheers he got from the women in the crowd along with the disbelieving looks of the men. "I know some of you guys are thinking: that's not cool. So in light of that, this next song isn't for the guys it's for the ladies." Cheering from the ladies met the statement as Naruto started strumming on his guitar.

**I see you standing here  
But you're so far away  
Starving for your attention  
You don't even know my name  
You're going through so much  
But know that I...could be the one  
To hold you**

At this point, the two Shino's appeared out of nowhere next to Naruto while Hinata came into focus at the keyboard.

**Every single day  
****I find it hard to say  
****I could be yours alone  
****You will see someday  
****That all along the way  
****I was yours to hold  
****I was Yours to Hold**

"Give it up for my fabulous girlfriend: Yuuhi Hinata!" Naruto shouted with a smile as he backed away from his mike while Hinata stepped up to hers with a light blush on her cheeks.

_I see you walking by  
__Your hair always hiding your face  
__I wonder why you've been hurting  
__I wish I had some way to say  
__You're going through so much  
__Don't you know that I...could be the one  
__To hold you  
__Every single day  
__I find it hard to say  
__I could be yours alone  
_You will see someday  
That all along the way  
I was yours to hold  
I was Yours to Hold

**I'm stretching, but you're just out of reach  
****You should know  
****I'm ready when you're ready for me  
****And I'm waiting for the right time  
****For the day I catch your eye  
****To let you know that I'm  
****Yours to Hold...**

Every single day  
I find it hard to say  
I could be yours alone  
You will see someday  
That all along the way  
I was yours to hold  
I was Yours to Hold

**I find it hard to say  
****I could be yours alone  
**_(You're so far away)  
_**You will see someday  
****That all along the way  
****I was yours to hold  
****I was Yours to Hold  
****I'm stretching, but your just out of reach  
****I'm ready when you're ready for meeeee**

When the song had ended, Hinata walked up to Naruto and whispered something in his ear. The blonde smiled and nodded before giving his girlfriend a light kiss on the cheek, prompting the crowd to let out another cheer. Hinata walked off the stage with a healthy blush on her cheeks, only to be grabbed by the three other kunoichi from the rookie teams for some 'girl talk', Naruto turned to Shino and told him he could take a break as well.

The bug user nodded and, after dispelling his clone, made to go backstage before he caught sight of a certain chunin kunoichi. Shino smirked and adjusted his glasses in what he knew others would call a 'cool fashion' as he proceeded to make his way other to the brown-haired kunoichi that he found himself growing fond of.

Naruto smiled at his teammate's retreating form and turned back to the mike, "Alright then, while my teammates take a quick break I'll take any requests from the crowd."

A split second after Naruto had finished speaking, one voice cut through the crowd, "Yosh! Naruto-kun I wish for you to accompany me in our song!" All eyes turned to see the spandex-wearing Rock Lee, who had an excited grin on his lips.

Naruto smiled when he saw who it was, "Absolutely, it'll be just like old times. But before we can though." Naruto snapped his fingers and a round changing screen fell from the ceiling and obscured Lee from view. "You need a wardrobe change Lee." When the screen was lifted, the crowd had to hold back a gasp while about of quarter of the women gathered passed out with a nosebleed.

Over at the table were the four kunoichi of the rookie teams, Ino turned to a dumbstruck Tenten as she exclaimed, "You're on the same team as that hunk?!"

Indeed, a lot of the people who knew Rock Lee were hard-pressed to recognize him outside of the green spandex. He was now wearing a tight white tanktop over a black sleeveless jacket that left the extremely hardened and toned muscles on his arms and torso exposed. On his legs were jeans with torn holes where his knees were with a pair of lace-less sneakers. The real kicker, though, was that the black-eyed boy had spiked hair backwards so that it was no longer bowl-shaped.

Naruto nodded with a small smirk on his face, "That's better." He then pulled out a CD from somewhere and threw it over at the DJ sitting in the corner as he said, "Yo DJ! Spin us up!" While the DJ was lining up the disk, Naruto grabbed two mikes and tossed one over to Lee as the two genin moved down to the center area of the club. Soon, a string-themed melody began to play over the speakers.

**(Bold: Naruto Singing; **_Italic Underlined: Lee Singing; __Italic: Both singing)_

**You Ready? Let's go!**

A loud thumping started playing along with the strings that got many peoples' heads bobbing and clapping to the beat.

_Yeah, for those of you that want to know what we're all about_  
**It's like this y'all come on**

_This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill  
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will  
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain  
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name_

**Mike, he doesn't need his name up in lights  
He just wants to be heard whether it's the beat or the mic  
He feels so unlike everybody else, alone  
In spite of the fact that some people still think that they know him**

_But fuck 'em, he knows the code  
It's not about the salary it's all about reality and makin' some noise  
Makin' the story, makin' sure his clique stays up  
That means when he puts it down Tak's pickin' it up, let's go_

**Who the hell is he anyway? He never really talks much  
Never concerned with status but still leavin' them star struck  
Humbled through opportunities given despite the fact  
That many misjudge him because he makes a livin' from writin' raps  
**  
_Put it together himself, now the picture connects  
Never askin' for someone's help, to get some respect  
He's only focused on what he wrote, his will is beyond reach  
And now when it all unfolds, the skill of an artist_

_This is twenty percent skill, eighty percent fear  
Be a hundred percent clear 'cause Ryu is ill  
Who would've thought he'd be the one to set the west in flames?  
And I heard him wreckin' with the crystal method, name of the game_

**Came back dropped Megadef, took 'em to church  
I'm like 'bleach, man, why you have the stupidest verse?  
This dude is the truth, now everybody givin' him guest spots  
His stock's through the roof I heard he fuckin' with S-dot**

_This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill  
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will  
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain  
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name  
_  
_They call him Ryu the sick and he's spittin' fire an' mike  
Got him out the dryer he's hot found him in Fort Minor with Tak  
A fuckin' annihilist porcupine he's a prick, he's a cock  
The type women want to be with and rappers hope he gets shot  
_  
**Eight years in the makin' patiently waitin' to blow  
Now the record with Shinoda's takin' over the globe  
He's got a partner in crime, his shit is equally dope  
You won?t believe the kind of shit that comes out of this kid's throat**

_Tak, he's not your everyday on the block  
He knows how to work with what he's got  
Makin' his way to the top  
People think it's a common owner's name  
People keep askin' him was it given at birth  
Or does it stand for an acronym?  
_  
**No, he's livin' proof got him rockin' the booth  
He'll get you buzzin' quicker than a shot of vodka with juice  
Him and his crew are known around as one of the best  
Dedicated to what they doing, give a hundred percent  
**  
_Forget Mike, nobody really knows how or why he works so hard  
It seems like he's never got time  
Because he writes every note and he writes every line  
And I've seen him at work when that light goes on in his mind  
_  
**It's like a design is written in his head every time  
Before he even touches a key or speaks in a rhyme  
And those motherfuckers he runs with, those kids that he signed  
Ridiculous, without even tryin', how do they do it?**

_This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill  
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will  
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain  
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name_

_This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill_  
_Fifteen percent concentrated power of will_  
_Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain_  
_And a hundred percent reason to remember the name_

When the song finished, the two shinobi were met with roaring applause. With wide grins on their faces the two grasped each other's forearms firmly and thumped shoulders.

Naruto laughed, "We still got it, huh Lee?"

Lee nodded, "Indeed Naruto-kun. Now if you'll excuse me, I must rejoin my team." Naruto just clapped a hand on Lee's shoulder, before both separated. Naruto to the stage and Lee back to where the genin teams were sitting.

After setting the mikes back in place Naruto said, "Alright folks, this next song is going to be the last one for tonight but I'm going to need my teammates up here to help me out with it." The lights faded out again as two other members of Team 8 made their way to the stage.

A pulsing white light accompanied the fast-paced tune that suddenly sprang for, allowing the audience to glimpse the two Shinos on strings rocking back and forth to their beat in the same area as the three guitarists. After a couple seconds of this, the other members of the band launched forth a truly head-banging tune that got the whole crowd moving.

**I lie here paralytic, inside this soul  
Screaming for you till my throat is numb  
I wanna break out I need a way out  
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way  
The worst is the waiting  
In this womb I'm suffocating**  
_Breathe for the first time now  
I come alive somehow  
_  
**Rebirthing now  
I wanna live my life, wanna give you everything  
**_Breathe for the first time now  
I come alive somehow  
_  
**Right now  
Right now**  
**I wanna break out, I found a way out**  
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way  
**The worst is the waiting  
In this womb I'm suffocating**

Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen  
I take you in  
I've diiiiied

Rebirthing now  
I wanna live for love, wanna live for you and me

I lie here lifeless in this cocoon  
Shedding my skin cause I'm ready to

**Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen  
I take you in  
I've died**_Breathe for the first time now  
I come alive somehow  
_  
**Rebirthing now  
I wanna live my life, wanna give you everything**  
_Breathe for the first time now  
I come alive somehow  
_  
**Tell me when I'm gonna live again  
Tell me when I'm gonna breathe you in**  
_Tell me when I'm gonna feel inside  
Tell me when I'm gonna feel alive_

Rebirthing now  
I wanna live for love, wanna live for you and me

Both Hinata and the Naruto clone of the electric guitar launched into a short solo of many rifts before the singing started up again.

Tell me when I'm gonna live again  
Tell me when this fear will end  
Tell me when I'm gonna feel inside  
Tell me when I'll feel alive 

**_Rebirthing now_**  
**I wanna live for love, wanna live for you and me  
**_Breathe for the first time now  
I come alive somehow  
_  
**Rebirthing now  
I wanna live my life, wanna give you everything  
**_Breathe for the first time now  
I come alive somehow_

**Right now**  
_(I come alive somehow)  
_**Right now**  
_(I come alive somehow)_

When the group came to the last note of the song, all the members raised up their right arms before they all came down as one. To the complete surprise of the crowd, a column of flame completely engulfed each of the members before the columns rose up and began to form a short sentence:

**BEWARE THE MIRAGE**

When the flame sentence faded away, all of the members of Team Mirage had completely vanished with a clear warning sent out to the other three rookie genin teams entering the Chunin Exams.

**~~ {CHAPTER END} ~~**

**Unknown-nin345: Well, that's the end of Chapter 6. I apologize if it was too long for some of you, this is actually the most amount of pages I've ever written: 21 pages (I blame the songs). I tried to put in a little action between Naruto and Hinata to keep the chapter from being totally boring and for those of you who plan on giving me grief over Hinata's Out-of-Character-ness, I only have one thing to say: I prefer an Anko-like Hinata to the stuttering, shy Hinata. The shy Hinata might be extremely cute, but the Anko-like Hinata is just plain sexy.**

**Suddenly, Shino appears from out of nowhere in a cloud of dark smoke.**

**Shino: "You…"**

**Unknown-nin345: "Hey Shino, is there anything you need?"**

**Shino: (a dark aura begins to surround him) "You…gave me…emotions."**

**Unknown-nin345: "Well, yeah."**

**Shino: (raises his arms to both sides as a huge swarm of insects surrounds him) "Prepare to be…assimilated."**

**Unknown-nin345: "Ahem, remember everyone, next chapter is the start of the Chunin Exams. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to proceed with running for my life while screaming in absolute terror." (Runs off screaming as a demonic-looking Shino follows with a swarm of buzzing insects while laughing maniacally)**

**Unknown-nin345: REVIEW TO SAVE ME FROM THIS MADMAN!!!! HELP!!!!!**

**Songs of the Chapter: **

**'Come what may', from the movie Moulin Rouge (i think that's how it's spelled)**

**'Comatose' 'Collide' 'Yours to Hold' & 'Rebirthing', all from the group Skillet**

**'Remember the Name', by Fort Minor**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7 ~~ This Is Me Finding You**

**Unknown-nin345: I'm back! I'm back! And with a brand new chapter for you all with the anticipated Gaara vs. Naruto fight in the Forest of Death. I apologize for taking so long with getting this put out but I had a very, very important matter to see to and I wasn't allowed any distractions.**

**So here you go, faithful readers. I hope this chapter is to your liking.**

**Let's get started with the Chunin Exams!**

The sun had barely risen over the horizon when the members of Team 8 decided to meet up to do a weapon check before they headed off to take the Chunin Exams by storm. Naruto and Hinata arrived together at the team's training ground first followed shortly by Shino. Once gathered the three began laying out all of their weapons and gear in front of them before moving over to one of their teammate's piles and looking it over, repeating it one more time just to be certain.

When they finished, the three genin put their gear back on and stood in silence as they looked each other over.

Naruto looked more like he was heading off to a large battlefield instead of going to take an Exam, of course given the nature of said exam his appearance probably wouldn't be far off the mark. On his feet were steel-toed black combat boots that had a combat knife resting in a spring-action holster at the toes. Tucked into the boots were the legs of his black, slightly loose pants that had half-a-dozen kunai in strap-holsters on the side of his thighs while leading up to his waist where he had five pouches: two specifically for kunai, two for shuriken, and one filled with explosive notes of various sizes. Covering his torso was a long-sleeve black shirt that had a special mesh-weave underneath a rust-orange vest along with two bandoliers loaded with kunai slung over his shoulders in an 'x' pattern. Finally, to top it all off, Naruto was wearing his red jacket with black flames while his twin kodachi rested on his back and his hitai-ate proudly gleamed on his forehead.

If anyone had taken a glance at Shino, they never would have guessed the arsenal the bug-user currently had on underneath his large coat. In his pants, Shino had sown in hidden pouches filled with shuriken while he had four pouches filled with a mixture of variously sized kunai. Hidden in his right sleeve was his trump card, a specialized kusari-gama that (with the help of a little fuuinjutsu) looked only like a small scythe stuck on a metal ball. However, when Shino would charge his chakra to it, the chain connecting the scythe to the ball would extend or retract based on how much chakra he put into it. A new addition to his attire though was the small bag situated in the middle of his back that contained a second hive of Kikaichū that was still being integrated to his body.

Meanwhile, any man (except for Sasuke) and quite possibly a couple women who looked in Hinata's direction would most likely faint with a very large nosebleed staining their clothes. She was wearing a tank/crop-top that was made up of a thick mesh right down to the general area of her nipples before turning to a dark lavender cloth that was pulled tight against the kunoichi's c-cup breasts. The lavender-eyed girl was also wearing some low-riding pants that had a half-oval cut down to the middle of her thighs on the outer-sides of her legs and was held up by a thick belt that carried two packs containing kunai/shuriken along with a pouch filled with basic medical supplies. To finish off her appearance, Hinata had on mesh gloves that came up to her biceps with light metal plates covering her forearms and the backs of her hands with matching plates on her shins.

All in all, Team Mirage was more than ready for battle.

After their moment of shared silence the three chunin-hopefuls made their way to the academy, the sight of the first part of the Chunin Exams. They silently entered the building, pausing on the second floor at the sight of so many genin, before moving on up to the third floor where the first exam would be held. The three quietly entered the room, which was about halfway filled with genin that were mostly from other hidden villages, and sat down at one of the desks while quietly talking amongst themselves.

About five minutes later, the doors opened as a large group of Konoha genin entered the room. As the group filed in, the genin who had already seen through the illusion and ignored it could hear the whispers coming from many of them that 'Uchiha-sama' had revealed the truth about the genjutsu on the second floor. Many of the smart genin in the room shook their heads both at the Uchiha's actions and the fact that these fools seemed to think they were ready even though they didn't realize they had been stopped by an illusion on the SECOND floor.

When Team 7 finally entered the room, Naruto had to hold in his mocking laughter at the sight of walking bruise known as Uchiha Sasuke. The three members of Team 8 just watched in silence as Team 10 joined Team 7 and proceeded to make a scene that only grew worse when a gray-haired genin walked up to the two rookie teams. The gray-haired genin, who introduced himself as Yakushi Kabuto, showed off some cards to the two rookie teams and said something that angered the Oto-nins sitting a couple seats away from Team 8.

When the three genin from Otogakure moved, Team 8 was only half a second behind them.

The rookies, plus Kabuto, were surprised when the three Oto-nins appeared out of nowhere aiming straight for Kabuto but were even more shocked that the members of Team Mirage halted the Oto-nins in their tracks in a somewhat extreme fashion.

Naruto took care of the one who looked somewhat like a mummy by stabbing a kodachi into each of the mummy's hands, pinning them to the floor. Hinata took the kunoichi of the team down by placing a sebon needle in spots that would lock up the sound kunoichi's limbs and pinned her to the ground with a foot planted in the small of the Oto-girl's back. Meanwhile, Shino had whipped out his kusari-gama and stabbed the blade straight through the spiky-haired oto-nin's arm before proceeding to twist the arm into a very unnatural angle.

To say that the other two rookie teams were stunned would be an understatement.

"Are you unharmed Yakushi-san?" the bug-wielding member of Team Mirage questioned.

Kabuto nodded as he answered, "I am. My thanks for the speedy intervention."

Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke appeared at the front of the room accompanied a shout of, "You in the back! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Everyone turned their attention to the front of the room and saw a gathering of chunin there along with one who was garbed in clothing associated with a shinobi of Jounin rank standing at the front.

Shino decided to be the voice of Team 8 as he answered, "These three shinobi from Otogakure attempted to assault Konoha Shinobi, Yakushi Kabuto. Since me and my teammates were under the impression the Exams had yet to commence, we decided to neutralize the threat to Yakushi-san. If you wish we shall turn over custody of these three to you Jounin-san."

The bandana-wearing jounin stayed silent for a full minute before he nodded and gestured at some of the chunin standing behind him, "Take those three to the Anbu holding cells. I'll be sure to pay them a visit once the first exam is over." Three of the chunin nodded and shushin-ed over to where Team 8 still was standing guard and collected the three Oto-shinobi before leaving in another shushin.

"Right then, everyone listen up! If there is anymore fighting not sanctioned by a proctor, know that you and your team will be immediately failed," the jounin shouted out to the crowd of chunin-hopefuls. Seeing the methods acknowledgement, the jounin nodded, "Good. Now, I am Morino Ibiki and I shall be the head proctor for the first part of the Chunin Exams. The first thing I want you all to do is find a seat but you cannot be in the same row or column as either of your teammates."

Once all the genin in the room had been seated, with the chunin taking up seats along the walls on either side of where the genin were sitting, Ibiki began to lay out the instructions to the first exam. They had forty-five minutes to answer ten questions with each team able to earn a maximum of ten points but every time they were caught cheating the team would lose two points; get caught five times and your entire team failed. Of course this brought about a round of protests from the genin, only to be silenced by Ibiki's killer intent.

After bringing the genin back under control, Ibiki began the exam and for forty-five minutes the room was filled with the sound of scratching pencils along with muttered curses. As time went on, some of the genin began to figure out that as long as they didn't get caught too many times they could still cheat. Thusly those who could began to utilize the skills they possessed to gain the answers to the exam, sadly not everyone was able to keep out of notice of the chunin and some teams were quickly kicked out. Once the forty-five minutes were up, Ibiki called for the genin to drop their pencils.

"And now, the rules for the tenth question: the rules of desperation," Ibiki ominously stated, made all the more intimidating by his appearance. Seeing that he had the genins' total attention the tokubetsu jounin continued speaking, "First: If you choose not to take the tenth question then your points will be reduced to zero, so you and your team will fail!" Clamoring began to rise up from the genin, only to be silenced by Ibiki's booming shout, "However! If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, not only will you fail but that person will be barred from all future chunin exams!"

"That's bull!" shouted a certain Inuzuka. "There are teams here who've taken the exams before now!" Ibiki's dark chuckle, which somehow managed to carry throughout the entire room, silenced him.

"You guys are just unlucky 'cause this year I'm in charge and its MY RULES we're playing by," Ibiki said while putting out a brief flash of killer intent. Suddenly the killer intent vanished and Ibiki gave off a small smile that seemed out of place on him, "But I'm feeling nice so I'm giving those of you not confident enough a way out. If you decide to not take the tenth question you'll be free to go and you can try again next year."

The tokubetsu jounin turned around to give them a minute to stew in their thoughts before he turned back and said, "Alright then, let's begin the tenth question. Those who don't wish to take the question will raise their hands and their numbers will be confirmed. You will then exit the testing room. Choose."

The tension that filled the silence that followed could have been cut with a knife as the chunin-hopefuls dwelled on the decision laid before them. Slowly various genin began to raise their hands to quit the exam, the tension rising with each team that left. Suddenly, to the immense surprise of every Konoha-nin gathered, Naruto raised his hand. However Ibiki noticed something about the blonde-haired teen's posture and shook his head imperceptibly at the chunin watchers, interested in what the blonde was going to do.

Without warning, Naruto closed his hand before standing up and slamming it straight through the desk he was sitting at as he began shouting, "If you think I'm that much of a coward then you've got another thing coming asshole! I will take your stupid question and I will answer correctly 'cause there's nothing that will stop me from reaching the title of Hokage! Even if I'm forced to stay a genin forever then I'll just have to be the only genin ever to be promoted straight to Hokage!"

Ibiki stared at him for a moment, his impassive mask not showing that he was mildly impressed by Naruto's declaration. "I'll ask you again. After all your life could be riding on your decision."

Naruto drew one of his kodachi and pointed it at Ibiki, the space between the blades becoming filled with a fierce golden flame, as he said, "That's just the way I like it. I will always follow my unbending words: I never back down, never quit, and never surrender! That is my nindo, my way of being the best damn ninja I can possibly be."

Ibiki suddenly burst out laughing, startling most of the genin gathered, "I like you kid, you've got some serious spunk." The tokubetsu jounin then took a moment to survey all the chunin hopefuls, noting that none of them seemed to be even thinking about leaving after the blonde's brief outburst. "Well then, seeing as none of you look like you're going to leave there's only one thing left for me to say. You all pass."

The genin all went totally silent and still, except for Naruto who nodded while sheathing his kodachi as he sat back down in his seat. Ibiki stood silent as he waited for the eventual eruption he knew would be coming from one of the genin. Any second now.

"Wait, I don't get it," spoke up a certain pink-haired kunoichi, "what about the tenth question?"

"That was the tenth question," Ibiki explained amicably, "The choice to accept the mission and the risks that come with it or to deny the mission because you don't want to face the dangers. As a chunin you will be expected to go on missions that WILL test you and will throw danger at you every step of the way. As you saw, the genin who chose not to take the question automatically failed the exam regardless of whether or not they answered the other questions."

"So if everything was riding on whether or not we 'took' the tenth question, what was the purpose of the first nine?" asked a pig-tailed blonde kunoichi from Sunagakure.

"Simple: they were to test your skills at information gathering," the bandana-wearing jounin stated. "If you reach the rank of Chunin, you will sometimes be called upon to collect information that could make or break your village. However, if you skill in that area is pathetic then your whole team could suffer as you saw just now."

Ibiki looked around the room at all of the genin, trying to impart upon them the seriousness of what he had just said, "This concludes the first portion of the Chunin exams; I wish all of you the best of luck for the next part."

Immediately after he had finished speaking, a black cloth ball shot through the window and unfurled directly in front of Ibiki. On the cloth was written: 'Sexy Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko'.

"Alright you knuckleheads this is no time to be celebrating, the second exam starts now!" shouted the woman who had arrived in the cloth ball. Silence permeated the room, the genin being too stunned by the woman's abrupt arrival to even try to formulate a response.

Ibiki stepped out from behind the banner and muttered, "You're early Anko. Grasp the atmosphere."

The purple-haired woman blinked in a small amount of confusion before she counted up the number of genin sitting before her. Once she had finished she turned to her fellow jounin with a disappointed frown gracing her lips as she said, "You let this many teams pass Scarface? Just how soft are you getting?"

Ibiki just crossed his arms across his broad chest, "Humph, this just means that the brats are stronger-willed than usual. Provided they get some inspiration." He glanced pointedly at a smirking Naruto.

Anko saw just who the scarred jounin was looking at and scoffed disdainfully, "Their willpower won't be worth shit for what I plan to put them through. I can guarantee the numbers will be cut at least in half. Now you maggots follow me, the sexy Mitarashi Anko, to Training Ground 44!"

xxxxxxxxxxx

A short while the genin who had passed the first stage of the Chunin Exams stood assembled outside a fenced-in gigantic forest with every nook and cranny steeped in shadows. Even the utterly dense genin amongst those gathered (coughSakuracough) couldn't help but feel anxious about what lay in that forest.

"Welcome maggots to Training Ground 44 or, as some of us jounin affectionately call it, the Forest of Death," Anko stated with a sadistic smirk lighting up her face, making a vast majority of the genin gulp nervously. "It is in here that the second portion of the Chunin Exams shall take place. What you're going to be doing is very simple: you will be engaged in an all-out scroll battle." Here she pulled out two scrolls; one that read 'Heaven' with the other reading 'Earth'. "To complete this portion of the exam you must have both a Heaven and Earth scroll but you are not allowed to open either scroll before you reach the tower."

"And that's not all," Anko continued as she looked around at the genin gathered, "You will also have to survive against the horrors that lurk in the Forest. Make no mistake; there is a very good reason why this location is called the Forest of DEATH. However, I will warn you now that there is a time limit. If you don't reach the tower in the center of the Forest within five days then you will be failed. Another warning; if you are missing a single teammate you will be failed. Now there's just one thing left to do." She turned her head to the tent set up next to the fence and whistled.

A chunin exited the tent, bearing a stack of papers which he then handed to Anko. Grinning cheerfully Anko exclaimed, "You just have to sign this paper which will release Konoha of all liability should you end up dying! No pressure though!" The cheerful manner in which she delivered this news made many of the genin develop a large sweatdrop on the backs of their heads.

Team by team, the genin turned in their liability waivers and picked up their scroll from tent before heading to their designated gates. As they impatiently waited for the call to begin to come, many of the genin were making plans to get through this forest as fast as possible whilst other had more…sinister plans concocted. After what seemed like forever, a horn sounded and the gates of the forest opened.

The second portion of the Chunin Exams had begun.

xxxxxxxxx With Team 8 xxxxxxxxxx

The three members of Team 8 silently made their way through the gigantic trees of the forest, periodically pausing to allow Hinata and Shino to scan the immediate area in an attempt to locate any other teams. Minutes trickled by onto hours before they finally came upon another team. The three members of Team 8 looked down at the three genin below them, hidden by one of Hinata's genjutsu that made it so they looked and smelled like the trees around them.

After spending a couple minutes watching the opposing team set up their camp to prepare for the night, the members of Team 8 had to shake their heads at the ineptitude shown by the genin below them. No traps had been set, their fire was producing too much smoke, and they hadn't even picked someone to stand watch. Thus, after a whispered discussion, it was decided that Shino would send in his bugs to drain their chakra before Hinata and Naruto would drop down to 'acquire' their scroll.

Team 8 waited a little while longer before implementing their plan. With barely a rustle, Shino's kikaichū descended down in a decidedly ominous (and just plain creepy) fashion. They watched in astonishment as the genin didn't even seem to notice the bugs approaching them until it was too late. Before the genin team could even respond to the kikaichū that had drained their chakra, Naruto and Hinata dropped down to quietly knock out the genin team.

They shifted through the unconscious team's gear before finding an earth scroll, the scroll that Team 8 needed to move on to the third portion of the exams. Without so much as a backwards glance, the members of Team 8 leapt back up into the trees and began making their way towards the tower. When they came upon a large clearing though, Naruto called them to a halt.

After standing in silence for a minute Naruto called out, "I know you're here. Why don't you show yourself?" Hinata and Shino shifted their stances so that they could easily reach their weapons since they weren't sure just who Naruto was calling out.

Their answer came when Sabaku no Gaara strode out of the tree line on the other side of the clearing. The red-haired suna-nin came to a stop a couple feet, his teal eyes not moving as they stared into Naruto's sapphire eyes. A tense silence filled up the clearing as power began to radiate off of the two jinchuuriki.

"Shino, Hinata," Naruto suddenly spoke up. The two other members of Team 8 turned their gaze to Naruto and were surprised at the serious expression adorning the normally easy-going jinchuuriki. "I want you both to make your way to the tower, I'll meet you there."

"You mean to fight him alone." Shino stated after a brief moment of silence with a nod from Naruto being his answer. The stoic Aburame took one last glance at Gaara before he backed away to the tree line and waited for Hinata.

Naruto turned his gaze to the concerned face of his girlfriend and smiled at her, "I'll be okay Hinata-chan. Remember: I will always come back to you." He placed a gentle kiss onto her lips and pulled back slowly, staring into her lavender eyes. Hinata reached up with one of her hands and gently rubbed Naruto's whiskered cheek before moved back to stand by Shino. Together the two members of Team 8 took off into the forest.

After staring into the trees for a moment, Naruto turned to his eyes back to Gaara and grinned ferally at the redhead, "Well…shall we begin?"

With no more distractions the two jinchuuriki squared off against each other, chakra and killing intent filling up the space between them so much that anyone watching would swear there were currents of energy weaving paths through the air. The pressure grew to such intensity that Temari and Konkurou, standing quite some distance away after following their little brother here, were pushed down to their knees and began sweating profusely.

Gaara could stand the waiting no longer and let his entire gourd dissolve into sand, forming a giant wave behind him, as he cried, "Come Uzumaki Naruto! MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE!" The redhead launched a tendril of sand at the blonde shinobi of Konoha, intent on stealing the red liquid of life from him.

Naruto dodged out of the way of the tendrils, his i-pod falling out of his pocket as he did so. It hit the ground with a dull thud and somehow the 'play' button was hit, causing a song to start playing. After a brief drum introduction, a guitar came blazing forth.

**Ah ah ah ah ah aooo**

**Come inside and be afraid  
Of this impressive mess I've made  
If you take a look now you will find**

Naruto went flying through handseals as he moved before he spat out a couple speeding balls of condensed wind. These were unfortunately stopped by a wall of sand that erected itself near-instantaneously. This wall then sped towards Naruto at a speed that would have caught the blonde jinchuuriki had he not kawimari-ed with a convenient log that was splintered by the redhead's sand.

**I have thrown away my vice  
Done away with paradise  
See what's going on inside my mind  
Please let me out  
Please let me out  
Please let me**

More balls of condensed wind flew out from the trees, harmlessly impacting on Gaara's shield of sand. Suddenly a wall of wind came shooting at Gaara and again the sand rose to the defense. The sand was dispersed by the wind but managed to absorb enough of the impact that Gaara only felt a gentle breeze hit him.

**Branded like an animal  
I can still feel them burning my mind  
I do believe that you made your message clear  
I think I am losing my mind  
I think I am losing my mind**

Snarling, Gaara started looking all around to locate his prey before a sudden 'swish' brought his attention to the sight of his sand apparently blocking an attack from nothing. Another 'swish' drew his eyes to witness his sand once again rising up to block nothing. This continued on for another minute before Naruto reappeared, both of his kodachis drawn and held in a reverse grip.

"That sand of yours is very impressive Gaara," Naruto commented. "And it seems that it can react faster than you can. I wonder though, just how fast can it go?" With that Naruto brought his hands together and formed the handseal to his favorite jutsu, summoning forth four shadow clones that all mirrored the original's posture. When the last clone had appeared, the original Naruto spoke, "Be honored Gaara, for you are about to be the first victim of my own personal kenjutsu attack."

**Deprivating, isolating all that I feel  
Leaving me with images I know are not real  
Are those words of condemnation that I hear  
I think I am losing my mind  
I think I am losing my**

At some unheard signal the five Narutos took off at a speed that Gaara quickly discovered he couldn't keep up with. Then the attacks started coming even faster than before with the redhead jinchuuriki finding himself being spun in a circle as he tried to keep up with the attacks, even as he noticed the sand was having increasing difficulty in blocking the attacks.

**Come inside now I implore  
Do you think you can restore  
The crucial pieces missing from my brain  
What seems to be the matter dear  
Why do you cry and shake with fear  
I've only had the best dub me insane**

Suddenly the five Narutos reappeared in crouched positions facing away from Gaara. Silence overtook the clearing before both sand and blood erupted from Gaara's body, sending the red-haired Suna-nin into a brief state of shock. The four clones dispersed, leaving behind only little white clouds.

As he stood back up and faced his fellow jinchuuriki, Naruto only muttered one sentence, "Kenjutsu: Uzumaki no Mai." The blonde-haired jinchuuriki watched Gaara fall to the ground before he turned and began to walk away.

**Please let me out  
Please let me out  
Please let me**

Before he could go far though, Naruto felt a great pressure suddenly wrap around his midsection as he was picked up. Naruto turned his head around and saw a transformed Gaara standing up from where the blonde had left him with a large tendril of sand extending from the sand claw that was his left arm. Naruto didn't even get a chance to gasp in surprise before the sand holding him slammed him through a couple trees followed by pummeling him into the ground, drawing out a pained yell from the blonde teen.

**Branded like an animal  
I can still feel them burning my mind  
I do believe that you made your message clear  
I think I am losing my mind  
I think I am losing my mind**

The sand retracted from his body even as dozens of shurikens made of sand flew at high speeds towards the downed blonde. With an angry snarl, Naruto pushed himself off the ground into a twisting jump that launched him over the sand shurikens. As soon as his feet touched the ground Naruto sped towards the red-haired jinchuuriki flying through handseals as he went. Upon completion of the seals Naruto launched forth a couple bullets of air, forcing Gaara pull up a wall of sand to block the attack.

**Deprivating, isolating all that I feel  
Leaving me with images I know are not real  
Are those words of condemnation that I hear  
I think I am losing my mind  
I think I am losing my**

**I don't know how much I can take**  
**The secret thoughts inside me wake**  
**I've lost what was within me**  
**Oh sweet insanity**

When he lowered the construct, the half-transformed jinchuuriki found that his prey had vanished. Suddenly three separate walls of sand shot up to block an incoming salvo of kunai knives. The beginnings of a smirk died when a hissing sound came from the walls of sand before they spontaneously combusted in a deafening explosion. When the smoke died down a slightly singed sphere of sand could be seen occupying the space where Gaara stood.

**Now I try again to find  
The thing that was my mind  
Behold the undersigned  
Who said I've lost my mind**

**Try again to find**  
**The thing that was my mind**  
**Behold the undersigned**  
**Who said I've lost my mind**

Slowly the sand fell back down to the ground to reveal a very aggravated, yet excited, Sabaku no Gaara. Once the ringing in his ears had died down the red-haired Suna-nin became aware of the sound of rushing wind. Looking towards where he could best discern was the central point of the sound, he was met with the sight of two Narutos rushing at him. Each Naruto held within one of bright blue sphere of swirling chakra.

**I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost**

**MIND**

Gaara sent forth a thick tendril of sand, intent on stopping the two blondes in their tracks. One of the Narutos pulled ahead, sphere of chakra firmly leading the way, and drove straight through the sand. Gaara felt a very real burst of fear at the sight of sand getting so easily torn apart and commanded his sand to form into perhaps the thickest wall he had ever made to protect him.

**I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind  
I've lost my mind**

Before he could sigh in relief though, a hole appeared in his wall accompanied by a popping sound and a small cloud of smoke. Through the smoke, with the sphere chakra held out in front of him and a determined fire burning in his eyes, rushed Uzumaki Naruto screaming to the heavens the name of the ninjutsu that his father had left behind for him.

"RASENGAN!"

The sphere of chakra slammed into Gaara, grinding through the armor of sand that Gaara always had clinging to his body at all times. The only reason Gaara didn't scream out in complete agony was because all the air had vacated his lungs. After a couple seconds of the grinding, the red-haired Suna-nin was launched backwards at high velocity through nearly a dozen trees.

Naruto took a minute to catch his breath and spit out a small glob of blood before he began to follow the trail of destruction left behind by the Suna-nin. After climbing and/or hopping through the debris Naruto came upon the sight of an extremely bloody Sabaku no Gaara half-buried at the end of a shallow trench that had been made by the Suna-nin's landing.

Gaara lifted his teal eyes to stare fearfully at his fellow jinchuuriki. He futilely tried to bury himself deeper into the ground, screaming, "No! Stay away! I will not lose my existence!"

Naruto came to a stop several feet away from Gaara and stared down at the crazed jinchuuriki. The blonde-haired teen looked down at his hands, hands that were stained with the blood of the victim before him.

When Naruto brought his eyes back to Gaara's own, the red-haired suna-nin froze when he saw eyes that were so similar to his own. Eyes that were filled such profound loneliness, agonizing pain, colossal fear, and instinctive anger.

In a low voice Naruto began to speak, "When I was younger I would wonder why everybody seemed to hate me, despise me, wish me dead, and all matter of things. I _hated_ them, hated those looks they would give and sometimes I would wish I could make the looks disappear…in any way possible. Had I continued along that path I would probably have turned out the same as you. Living for myself, not caring about anyone but me, killing everyone who wronged me in some fashion and…knowing that scares me."

Suddenly Naruto's eyes changed, now they emitted hope and strength, "Then I met a few people who didn't hate me, didn't despise me. They gave me a something had never had before; someone who cared about me, would get worried when I got hurt, would be proud of me for the accomplishments I made. They gave me hope that perhaps not everyone in this world wished to see me dead."

Now Naruto's eyes shone with happiness as he continued, "As I grew older a man who once hated me, thought of me as nothing more than the cause of his parents death began to see me as I was. He changed and became like a brother to me; teaching me, helping me, and giving me even more hope. However, despite all they'd done I still felt alone at times…until she entered my life."

Naruto's eyes now lit up, both figuratively and literally, as he spoke, "She came and gave me something greater than anything else in this world. More powerful than any jutsu, stronger than any blade, and more sustaining than any type of sustenance. She gave me love. Love, Gaara. She showed me that even someone like me, like us, can be given the gift of love."

"So now I fight to protect her, them, and everyone else I consider to be a precious person. They give me strength to fight on past the point of exhaustion. To hold on to something that is worth saving in this world. And I will give everything to ensure that they stay safe, and if that means I will have to kill… then kill I shall. But I will know in my heart of hearts that what I do…I do to keep safe everyone and everything I hold dear. And neither Heaven nor Hell; Kami nor Shinigami, will stop me from moving the world to make sure that I keep my word." By now, Naruto's eyes were shining as brightly as one of the nights many stars.

"Know this Sabaku no Gaara: true strength comes from the desire to protect all that you hold dear to your heart. For your heart is your God, and there is nothing that can stop you when you follow your heart." With that, the light in Naruto's eyes died down and the blonde began to walk away from Gaara.

Before he was out of earshot, a small whisper from the red head brought a smile to the whiskered blonde's lips.

"Thank you…brother."

Once Naruto had left the area, Temari and Konkurou descended down from the trees and began to pull their youngest brother out of the earth gently. Once he was free they hoisted his still bleeding body and began to slowly trek through the trees to the tower in the center of the massive forest.

Suddenly, Gaara tiredly whispered, "Temari…Konkurou, I'm so very sorry." The two older siblings exchanged surprised glances before smiling at each other.

"It's okay Gaara," Temari whispered back to her younger brother, Konkurou nodding in agreement.

**-{CHAPTER END}-**

**Unknown-nin345: Well how do you like that folks? I hope my Naruto vs. Gaara battle was to your liking. Also, what did you think about Naruto's little speech? Sorry about not including Gaara's giant tanuki form, but I think that would have been a little too much and this Naruto really didn't have much that would let him fight the Tanuki. **

**And before you get on my case about the Rasengan being used so soon; in canon Naruto was able to use it with the help of a clone after a little over a month had passed and that was with a teacher who was only there a quarter of the time, him being on the road traveling, and with barely average chakra control.**

**Now factor in this: he has a sensei who excels in chakra control considering she's a master of genjutsu, he's not on the road so he can focus more on his training, and finally his teacher pays more than an hours' worth of attention. **

**No offense to Jiraiya, the pervy sage was probably Naruto's best teacher, but he couldn't be there all the time to teach our hero. If he had been able to focus more on Naruto, then Naruto probably could have been able to use the Rasengan one-handed before the time-skip (and I'm not counting the time he did it in his two-tailed state during the Naruto-Sasuke battle in the Retrieval Arc).**

**Well anyways, next time is the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams and I can't wait!**

'**TILL NEXT TIME!**

**Song of the chapter:  
****Perfect Insanity**** by Disturbed.**


	8. Preliminaries Pt 1

**CHAPTER 8**

**Unknown-nin345: Welcome to chapter 8 devoted readers. I hope I didn't disappoint last chapter and I hope you find this one equally as good since it's time for the preliminaries. Let's get a move on with the violence!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else owned by some corporation somewhere.**

* * *

It didn't take Naruto long to catch back up with his teammates after leaving Gaara. Of course, Hinata had been beside herself with worry since her and Shino had both felt Gaara's demonic chakra so when Naruto suddenly dropped into the small clearing they had been taking a break in, she proceeded to try strangling him with a bone-crushing hug and suffocating him with a searing kiss. When they broke apart nearly two minutes later by Shino coughing, Naruto filled them in on his fight with the red-haired suna-nin.

Once the story-telling was finished, Team 8 moved on to finish their trek to the tower in the center of the forest. Just as they reached the door to enter the tower, they felt a sickly evil chakra erupt from another part of the forest. The three genin paused for a moment before they entered the tower only to find themselves in an empty room with a large mural on one of the walls with some saying that none of the three paid much attention to.

Naruto and Shino gave each other a quick nod before they both pulled out the scrolls they were carrying and laid them on the ground next to each other once they started smoking. The three genin subtly moved into positions that would allow them to easily bring out their weapons in case this was just the start of some new test. They allowed themselves to relax though, when the smoke cleared away to reveal their sensei standing there with a small smile on her face.

"Congratulations you three, you're the first team to make it to the tower and a full day hasn't even gone by yet," the red-eyed kunoichi praised with a small smile. She then noticed how beat up Naruto was, even with the healing factor he gained from the Kyuubi. "Did something happen while you were in there?"

The blonde jinchuuriki nodded, "When you can, go let Hokage-jiisan know that 'Number 1' is here and is taking part in the exams." Kurenai didn't get the reference until Naruto tapped his stomach, where his seal was located. "So…what's this place got in terms of food?"

- (Five Days Later) -

Inside of a medium-sized indoor arena, assembled before the Hokage and the various jounin senseis/proctors, stood the eight teams that had made it through the Forest of Death in the allotted time. Team 7, 8, and 10 stood there, along with Team Gai. Gaara (now looking much better than when Naruto had left him at the end of their fight) stood beside his siblings who now looked much more comfortable standing next to their little brother.

A team from Kumogakure made up of two kunoichi and a single male shinobi was also present, with quite a lot of the males having a hard time not staring at the blonde kunoichi's large breasts. Kabuto's team stood behind them, with said shinobi sporting a bad gash on his left leg. Finally a team of Iwa genin stood at the back of the gathering, each of them glaring quite heavily at Naruto.

Sarutobi Hiruzen stared out at the gathered genin, _'Hmm, quite the number of potential candidates. Seems like there will be a preliminary round this year.'_ Out loud he began speaking, "Congratulations go out to each and every one of you for making it past the first two portions of this year's Chunin Exams. Your skills are to be commended for making it this far but there is still one more event you must go through in order to prove you are ready to be promoted to the rank of Chunin. However before we begin with that, I feel I must explain to you all the true purpose behind these Exams." (Cue Sarutobi's speech about the Exams being a replacement for war between the nations)

"I hope you all remember what you have learned here today. Anyway, on to the next event; however I do have some unfortunate news," Sarutobi began to say before he was interrupted by the appearance of a sickly-looking jounin with a katana holstered on his back.

"Pardon my interruption Hokage-sama, but maybe it should be me, being the next event's proctor and all, who should explain what the contestants will have to go through next," the jounin said. At a nod from the Hokage, the man turned to the assembled genin and smiled slightly, "Right then. My name is Gekkou Hayate and I shall be the proctor for the next portion of the chunin exams. However, before we can get to the real third part of the exams, we shall need to have a little preliminary round first."

"What! Why can't all of us just proceed onto the next part of the exams?" asked the dark-skinned kunoichi on the Kumo team.

"The third portion of the Chunin Exams is supposed to be a tournament meant to put your skills on display for possible clients. Unfortunately there will be quite a few high profile clientele arriving for the third portion of the exams and since we do not wish to waste their time with potentially bad matches we decided to hold this little preliminary to…weed out the best possible candidates from those of you gathered," Hayate explained, giving off a small cough every now and again.

"Troublesome, so does that mean none of us could get promoted in this little tournament thing?" asked a certain lazy Nara.

Hayate nodded, "Yes, but it _also_ means that all of the competitors in the tournament could be promoted. It will all depend on the skills you display. If there are no more questions I would like to proceed." He waited a moment and nodded when no questions were asked. "Now then, does anybody here wish to retire from the exams? You do not have to worry about your teammates being punished along with you, from here on out the exams are based on your individual skills." Only Kabuto raised his hand, stating that he didn't think he could compete with the nasty gash in his leg.

"Now then, let us begin." As soon as those words left Hayate's mouth, a giant TV screen suddenly appeared on the wall behind the proctor. "Two of you will be randomly picked to fight against each other; unfortunately this also means that one of you shall have to fight twice due to the number of remaining contestants. I apologize but that is the only way we will get an even number of contestants in the third part of exams. Moving on, I must ask that everyone aside from those two selected combatants please move up to the balcony to view the matches."

As soon as Hayate had finished speaking, the TV screen began to speed through the names of the gathered genin before stopping and choosing the two participants of the first match.

_Uzumaki Naruto vs. Yamauchi Omoi_

Naruto smirked in excitement and, after getting a 'good luck' smooch from Hinata, the blonde-haired teen let his gaze linger on his girlfriend's swaying hips before he turned to observe his opponent, the lone male member of the Kumo team.

Omoi had dark skin (similar to the team's sensei) with short, spiky, white hair in a similar style to Naruto's. His dark eyes were accentuated by lines that curved upwards from their corners. His outfit was definitely not as colorful as Naruto's, consisting of a dark grey long-sleeve hooded shirt with similarly colored pants that were tucked into black tabi. His hands sported hand guards bound by red tape while white shin guards covered his lower legs. Finishing off his attire was the long katana on his back and a black cloth Kumogakure hitai-ate sitting proudly on his forehead.

Omoi himself was observing his opponent; however his thoughts weren't on the upcoming battle. _'Damn, this kid already has a girlfriend? That's not fair; if only I had someone like that back in Kumo. Obviously not a Hyuuga of course, but still…'_ "Ouch!" Omoi was suddenly hit in the head by a dull kunai throw by one of his teammates.

"Pay attention baka!" the red-haired kunoichi on the team shouted. "The proctor just asked you if you were ready to fight! Get your head of the clouds already!"

Omoi rubbed the bump that came from the kunai as he glared at his teammate, "You didn't have to throw that kunai at my head Karui! I was just about to answer the proctor anyways, jeez!" The dark-skinned boy turned back to Naruto, who was trying to hold in his laughter. "Sorry about that. Shall we get on with the fight or would you like to surrender?"

Naruto snorted in amusement and with a flourish, had both of his kodachi's pointed at Omoi. "You must not have paid attention in the first exam when I stated my nindo. If that's the case then I'll just have to say it again: I never back down, I never quit, and I never surrender!" Naruto grinned viciously at the Kumo-nin. "So let's get this fight over with 'cuz quite honestly I would much rather be making out with my smoking hot girlfriend right now…after I kick your ass of course."

Omoi himself smirked at his opponent and drew out his long katana with his own flourish before he settled into his stance, "Alright kid, have it your way."

Hayate, up till now forgotten, looked at the two competitors, "Since both fighters are now ready." The sickly-looking man raised up one of his arms, before bringing it down with a cry of, "Hajime!"

For a moment, neither fighter moved. Then, in the time it took most of the spectators to blink, Naruto and Omoi were standing were the other stood. Suddenly a long cut appeared across the back of Naruto's jacket while four small slash marks showed up on the left side of Omoi's torso, neither of the competitors appeared to be bleeding though.

The two competitors turned to face each other with weapons at the ready and respect gleaming in their eyes. They began to sidestep, keeping pace with each other and constantly tensing their muscles for the inevitable clash. With their footsteps being the only sound they made, the two rushed at each other to resume the combat. Suddenly, two Naruto's phased into being behind Omoi and attempted to launch a sneak attack on the Kumo-nin.

However, Omoi smirked before he launched into an extremely fast spin whilst shouting, "Kumo-Ryū: Uragiri!" The two clones weren't expecting such a speedy attack and were taken out, dispersing into clouds of smoke. Omoi completed his spin and met Naruto's dual kodachi with his long katana, a resounding 'clang' echoing in the arena.

The two kicked back from each other before launching into a high speed dash straight for each other. The three swords met once again followed by a staccato of clangs as the two began to show their skill in the way of the sword. The team from Kumo was especially impressed with the skill Naruto was showing.

Omoi and Naruto separated from each other to get a little breathing room. Not even bothering with handseals, Naruto sucked in a deep breath before he launched condensed ball of wind at his opponent. Omoi moved into an iaidō stance in response.

Just as the ball of wind was moments away from hitting him, the kumo-nin swung his blade with a cry of, "Kumo-Ryū: Mikazukigiri!" The long katana cleanly cut through the ball of wind in a fraction of a second, dispersing the jutsu. Omoi slowly shifted back into his ready stance, a small smirk on his lips.

Naruto just smirked in reply before four Kage Bushins fazed into existence alongside him. As one the five Naruto's took off with a cry of, "Naruto-Ryū: Uzumaki no Mai!" as they each used chakra to enhance their speed so that they were blurs to a majority of the genin looking on. Among the genin, only Rock Lee and the blond-haired kumo kunoichi could clearly see the five Naruto's as they dashed about.

The kumo-nin closed his eyes and let out a long breath as he loosened his body, letting conscious thought disappear. With his eyes still closed Omoi suddenly started moving. There was no hesitation in his movements as he easily blocked the attacks coming at him from the five Naruto's; instinct guided his arms as he wove his dance of defense.

Soon enough the five Naruto's reappeared in a line across from Omoi. Without a word, the original Naruto dispersed his clones as he faced off against Omoi by himself. Over the next couple minutes the two engaged in swordplay with both gaining minor wounds due to the other's skill.

As the fight dragged on, neither seemed to be gaining an edge against the other, such was their skill with a blade. But to the eyes of the more experienced fighters, they could see that Omoi was gradually getting slower in his movements. It wasn't an obvious decrease in speed but it was enough for Naruto to steadily take control of the fight.

With a sudden explosion of speed, Naruto batted aside Omoi's katana which left the dark-skinned boy wide open as Naruto moved into his guard. Naruto kept one of his kodachi pressed against Omoi's katana to keep him from using it while his other sword rested on Omoi's neck.

"Give up?" Naruto asked with a small smirk, barely looking fatigued.

Omoi chuckled tiredly, "Yeah, ya got me. Proctor, I surrender."

Hayate nodded as he gestured at Naruto, "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto removed his blade from Omoi's neck and exchanged a friendly handshake with him after they had both sheathed their swords. They both headed back up to their respective teams.

"Sorry I got beaten sensei," Omoi said to the giant of a man that was his sensei.

The dark-skinned, muscular man just grinned a clapped a hand on his student's shoulder, "Hey now, don't be so sublime. That battle of yours went mighty fine, full of skill and shine. Just do your best to get stronger, so that next time you can thrash your opponent longer." The man then turned his attention over to Naruto (who was currently engaged in a victory kiss with Hinata) and made his way over to the blonde.

Naruto separated himself from Hinata and watched the approach of the Kumo jounin. When the man stood before him, Naruto asked, "Something I can help you with Kumo-san?"

"Just came to greet a brother, who shows his heart like no other," the Kumo-nin said. He held out a fist, "Hachi Kira is the name of mine, how's it hanging Mr. Nine?"

Naruto looked confused for a second before his eyes widened in realization as a smile grew on his face. He decided to reply to the man's words in a similar fashion, "Well this day is turning out just great, first I meet One and then I meet Eight. Hey yo, my name's Naruto!" With that, Naruto pounded his fist against Kira's.

When their fists met, the two Jinchuuriki could feel a sense of similarity pass between them. They both realized that here was another warrior who had pushed themselves past their limits, broken the boundaries imposed upon them, and strove to become all that they could be for one simple reason: to protect that which was most important to them and ensure that their strength could be used as an impenetrable shield to protect those they loved from harm.

Hayate's voice drew the two jinchuuriki out of their little revelation, "Due to a double knockout there is no winner." The two looked down to see both Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino passed out on the arena floor.

Naruto looked over at Hinata and asked, "What did we miss?"

Hinata just shook her head, "A display of the most pathetic creature in existence: the fangirl. Only about three percent of the match was an actual fight, the rest was either insults or proclamations of their love for the Uchiha. Disgusting."

Naruto smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Don't worry my hime. Thankfully, it looks like those two were the only kunoichi here who didn't take their training seriously. Looks like it's time for Shino's turn though." Indeed, one of the names on the electronic board was Shino's.

The bug-user nodded and made his way down the steps to stand opposite one of the genin from Iwa, whom the board proclaimed as Jakami Tsurama. The two combatants began to silently size each other up; although Shino noticed that his opponent would occasionally glance up with a hate-filled glare at Naruto.

Hayate looked to the two competitors, "Both fighters ready?" The two genin nodded. "Hajime!"

The two didn't move immediately, each waiting for the other to surrender the initiative. Shino took his chance when he saw his opponent once again glance up; the bug-user swung his arm in an arc, the ball end of his kusari-gama rushing out at high speeds toward the Iwa genin. To everyone's surprise though, the genin did nothing to get out of the way as the small but dense orb collided against his head with a dull 'thunk'.

The Iwa genin just dully turned his head to Shino and sarcastically asked, "Was that supposed to hurt?"

Shino decided to counter the taunt with an insult, "It would seem I have vastly underestimated the sheer magnitude of imperviousness an Iwa-nin's head achieves." As always Shino's awesome use of euphemisms confounded everybody in the immediate vicinity.

"I don't know what you just said, but I'm gonna crush you!" Jakami shouted as he rushed forward. Shino stood his ground as his opponent drew closer and didn't even flinch as the other genin's fist rushed toward his head. Most of the Konoha-nin were unsurprised when Shino burst into a swarm Kikaichū that immediately covered the genin from Iwa.

A short distance away Shino rose up out of the ground, bits of rock falling of him as he stared at his fumbling opponent. "Aburame Hijutsu: Mushi Bushin no Jutsu," Shino calmly stated as his insect allies drained the Iwa genin of his chakra and knocked him out.

With a small smirk on his pale face, Hayate raised a hand as he stated, "Winner: Aburame Shino."

Shino just nodded and silently made his way back up to the stands. He received a knuckle bump from Naruto and congratulations from Hinata and his sensei. Shino accepted their words with a nod and hidden smirk. Once the congratulations were done, team 8 settled in to watch the next couple matches.

One of Kabuto's teammates went up against the Suna-nin in the cat suit with the large wrapped object on his back. It was revealed that the suna-nin was a puppet user when Kabuto's teammate tried to use his body's elasticity to crush the suna-nin. Instead, the puppet broke the stretchy-nin's neck.

When the names for the next match came up, Naruto let out an evil chuckle of anticipation. _Nii Samui vs Inuzuka Kiba_

Kiba couldn't believe his luck, not only did he have an easy match-up but it was with a super-hot chick with an enormous set of tits! So lost in his daydreams was he that he didn't notice his partner Akamaru hadn't followed him as he headed down the steps. Instead the pup wisely decided to not be anywhere near the horny idiot and sat down on his haunches to watch the inevitable beat down.

Before the proctor could begin the match, Kiba decided to prove (once again) that he had less brains than a concussed rock, "Hey babe, how 'bout after I win this little thing here you and me hook up for a night on the town and I'll show you what it's like to be with a real man?" This comment caused a variety of reactions in the crowd; from teeth-grinding agitation mixed with small bursts of killing intent from the women and a weak amount of pity from the men.

Samui just stared at the insignificant insect before looking over at the proctor, "Please begin the match proctor-san. It would seem this idiot here needs to cool off." Hayate allowed himself a quick mental snigger at the pain the Inuzuka boy was about to experience before he started the match.

Before most of the spectators could even blink, Samui had rushed forward and landed a solid kick to Kiba's 'family jewels' that sent him flying while singing soprano. The blonde-haired kunoichi then went through a short set of handseals and pressed her suddenly electrified hand against a kunai. Without batting a lash she threw the kunai with astounding accuracy in the dogboy's hip, prompting winces from the gathered males as Kiba's scream became warbled while still raising an octave or two. Thankfully, for Kiba at least, he didn't have to suffer long before he passed out.

After snickering lightly at the Inuzuka boy's fate, Hayate announced, "Winner: Nii Samui." Samui returned to her team up on the balcony while a couple of medics carried the comatose Kiba out on a stretcher.

Hinata leaned her head on her boyfriend's shoulder with a small grin on her face, "Remind me to send a present to Samui-san for doing something I've always wanted to do."

"Heh, if I wasn't wincing in pain I probably would be busting my gut laughing," Naruto replied. Suddenly, the next two names appeared on the board and brought forth a vicious smirk on Naruto's face. "Ohheheheh, this is gonna be sooo brutal."

_Rock Lee vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

* * *

**~~{End Chapter}~~**

**Unknown-nin345: Hi there all, sorry about taking so long with posting this story. Life, Love, and Universe sought to impose their will on my life and kept me preoccupied with various other activities. Thank you for putting up with my lazy behavior and hopefully I'll be able to post the next chapter faster than this one.**


	9. Preliminaries Pt 2

**This is Me Finding You  
Chapter 9**

**Unknown-nin345: Hello there everyone and welcome to Chapter 9 of the fic. To be honest I'm getting a little excited, the next chapter will make the Tenth one for this story. **

**Also: Thank you everyone who's kept with me since I started this fic and put up with my lazy, slacker behavior. I lost my writing mojo for a while, but now I've gotten it back and I'm ready to push forward with my stories.**

**I think though, that I'll start laying off on putting full songs into all of the chapters because I'm just finding it hard to locate songs that fit into the story without dragging out the action.**

**And now: On with the fic!**

_Rock Lee vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

"Osu!" Lee shouted before he launched himself up and over the rail to the arena below. The spandex-wearing fighter waited in the beginning stance of the Goken fighting style while his opponent arrogantly strutted down to the fighting area.

When he finally stood across from Lee, Sasuke smirked as his eyes shifted to the Sharingan, "This time you'll lose. I couldn't use any ninjutsu when we last fought but now's a different story."

Lee simply raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's remark and said nothing for a couple minutes. "It is a shame," he finally said, drawing confused looks from his opponent and some of those gathered. "I was hoping to save this for a more worthy opponent than you Sasuke-san."

With that Lee shifted his stance. He spread his legs out and lowered himself slightly, his left hand slowly closed into a fist as it was brought closer to his body while his right fist moved in front of his chest as it opened to a loose 'c' shape. With a slow exhale, Lee relaxed his body as his posture became less rigid.

Up in the stands, Gai smiled in pride, _'So Lee, you are going to unveil your original style.' _He wasn't the only one smiling as Naruto also grinned in anticipation.

Hayate looked between the two genin and let loose a small cough before he asked, "Are both fighters ready?" Both of the genin nodded in affirmation. "Then: Hajime!"

Sasuke quickly rushed forward, eager to end the match he was sure he would win. As his fist lanced out, Sasuke let out a short gasp of surprise at what his eyes told him. That was the only thing he could do as Lee exploded into motion.

The spandex-wearer batted aside the Uchiha's fist before his leg came up in a lightning-fast kick that had Sasuke looking up at the ceiling. Lee wasn't done there as he brought the same leg down in a devastating axe kick before spinning into an uppercut that sent Sasuke flying back.

As he watched the Uchiha land with a 'thud', Lee spoke up, "As I said in our first match Uchiha-san: Even if you can read my movements with your eyes, your body does not have the speed to react to my taijutsu. I have trained for years to acquire this speed and strength; it is not something that can be matched in an instant. I will earn my place in this world with the skills that I have gained by sacrificing the blood, sweat, and tears that allow me to break past my limits time and time again. That is the difference between us Sasuke-san."

"What do you know?!" Sasuke shouted in anger as he stood up and flashed through a series of handseals before launching out a salvo of fireballs, _'Katon: __Hōsenka no Jutsu!'_

Lee stood his ground as the balls of fire rushed towards him before passing straight through his body like it wasn't even there, after a quick second Lee seemed to vanish from view. Lee reappeared for a split second as he connected with a powerful double-palm thrust that sent Sasuke flying. The spandex-wearing genin vanished again only to come back into view as he used a flip kick to launch Sasuke up high into the air.

Lee followed Sasuke up and grabbed onto the Uchiha's body before he began to flip in mid-air, gaining speed as the two genin started falling back to the ground. At the last second, Lee released Sasuke to plow the Uchiha straight into the ground, creating a large crater as Lee gently landed on his feet a short distance away.

Lee stood tall and proud as he uttered the name of the move he had created during his many hours of training, "Gekiryuu Kata: Kenkon Gachan."

Inside the crater, Sasuke grit his teeth in both pain and anger as he futilely tried to lift himself up. _'Kuso! I can't lose here; I need to get stronger to kill my brother. I need more hatred!' _On his neck, the Ten no Juin flashed once before the black markings began to spread across Sasuke's flesh. With a manic grin on his face, Sasuke made his way to his feet as an evil chuckle began to rise in his throat.

When the Uchiha heir finally made it to his feet, the chuckle had turned into a dark laughter as the demented boy turned to face his opponent.

"This is the same evil mark he had back in the Forest," Lee muttered to himself as he calmly stared Sasuke down. Lee prepared himself as Sasuke rushed forward, moving fast enough that Lee had to exert a small amount of effort to keep up with the deranged Uchiha.

Up in the stands, Kakashi prepared to interfere in the fight and take Sasuke away to seal off the Cursed seal, but stopped at a signal from the Hokage.

Lee jumped backwards away from Sasuke, vanishing from normal sight as soon as his foot touched the ground. Sasuke, with Sharingan eyes glowing and Cursed seal pulsing, followed Lee's movements and, thanks to the boost from the seal, managed to slightly deflect Lee's next attack. However he wasn't able to block the follow-up spin kick or the one that followed that while Lee shouted, "Konoha Dai-Senpu!"

As he flew backwards, Sasuke brought his hands up into the tiger handseal as his cheeks bulged slightly before he expelled a wave of purple flames. Lee flipped up over the wave of flames, drawing out a pair of kunai which were thrown down at the still airborne Uchiha. Sasuke maneuvered himself around the projectiles and brought his arms up in a cross block as Lee's foot collided with them and sent Sasuke slamming into the ground.

While Sasuke was recovering, Lee leapt up on top of the handseal statue. _'Hm, it seems that the longer Sasuke uses this mark, the stronger and faster he gets. I need to end this now or he might become too dangerous for me to handle by myself,' _Lee thought to himself as his eyes searched the crowd of observers. As his eyes met the eyes of his teacher, who bore a grim expression on his face as he nodded, Lee thought, _'Forgive me Gai-sensei, but it seems I must break the condition you gave me to utilize the Lotus.'_

As his eyes went back to his opponent though, Lee met the gaze of Naruto. Said blonde was frowning in concern since it seemed he had picked up on what Lee was about to do. A bout of inspiration hit Lee at that moment in time, causing the spandex-wearing genin to smile.

'_No, the Lotus need not bloom,'_ Lee mentally stated as he released the clasps of his leg weights and dropped them. As the twin columns of sand erupted, Lee stood tall, _'Not while the Stream still runs true.'_

Lee disappeared from the view of all but the jounins and the Hokage as Sasuke launched yet another salvo of fireballs. The Uchiha growled in frustration when he realized that his eyes couldn't pinpoint his opponent's location. His expression was replaced by one of shock and pain though when Lee's foot collided with his stomach.

This foot was followed by several more kicks that lifted the Uchiha up into the air, Lee diligently following as he rained even more blows down on his opponent. Lee then seemed to kick off of the very air as he rocketed up to the ceiling, pausing only for the slightest moments as his feet collided with the stone before he pushed off, forming a mini-crater as he did so. As he fell, Lee held both fists out before him as he started spinning.

"Rensei Tobikomi!" Lee shouted as his spinning form connected with Sasuke's. The two genin fell back to the floor, spinning rapidly until Sasuke's body was plough through the concrete floor to form a somewhat large crater. Lee nimbly hopped out and left behind an unconscious Uchiha.

With a small smile of pride on his face for the taijutsu-user, Hayate raised his hand, "Winner: Rock Lee!"

The was no celebration on Lee's part as he retrieved his weights while a team of medic-nin came in and rushed Sasuke out of the room, Kakashi followed them to place a binding seal on the Uchiha's Cursed Seal. Meanwhile, Lee had ascended up to the balcony and rejoined his team.

"Nice job Lee," Tenten praised with a small smile. She then noticed the serious expression on Lee's face and asked, "You okay Lee?"

The spandex-wearing genin was silent for a moment before replying, "My victory now was not a youthful one. Sasuke-san gained the same marking he had in the Forest during the fight against a group of Oto shinobi and attacked with the intent to kill me. I believe that, whatever those markings are, they are enhancing the darkness in Sasuke-san's soul."

Off to side, one Neji Hyuuga snorted in derision, "The Uchiha is weak Lee. It was not his fate to become a chunin." The Hyuuga boy then glanced up at the board which had just revealed the next matchup and gained slightly evil smirk when he saw the names. "Just as it will be for Hinata-_sama_."

_Yuuhi Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji_

Over with Hinata, said lavender-eyed girl had just received a small kiss from her boyfriend and a whispered, "Kick his butt," from the blonde-haired jinchuuriki. After also getting encouragement from her sensei and other teammate, she made her way down to the arena to stand across from her cousin.

"Hinata-sama." Despite the calm way Neji delivered the name, one could easily hear the barely concealed contempt buried in the tone. Even his stance showed the simmering anger lying beneath the surface.

"Hyuuga-san." On the other hand, Hinata's voice betrayed nothing at all nor did her stance. She was like a pond of still water, showing nothing of what lied inside.

There was silence between the two Byakugan-wielders until Neji spoke up, "Before we begin this match there is something I want to say." It annoyed Neji that his cousin wasn't showing any of the fear he remembered her having back when she still bore the Hyuuga name. "You should forfeit Hinata-sama. You are too kind and lack the will to kill, this will never change. Just like everyone else we cannot change the roles we were born into and thus-"

"Are you finished yet?" Hinata asked calmly. This startled Neji, even if he didn't reveal it. "I came down here to fight Hyuuga-san, but if you would rather talk then maybe you should just forfeit now and leave the fighting to those who are willing to fight for what they want rather than hide and complain when things don't go their way."

Neji glared at Hinata as his Byakugan activated, the veins around his eyes bulging, "You know nothing of what I've been through!"

Hinata's own Byakugan activated as a stern expression settled on her beautiful features, "I know that you blame me for Hizashi-ojisan's death. I know that you hate the main house for forcing the branch members to be their servants. But instead of trying look for a different path to follow, you blindly stumble along as you let your hatred consume you and keep you trapped in the past. People can change Hyuuga-san, but it actually requires one to want to change."

"Shut up!" Neji roared as he charged forward, his hands glowing with the chakra stored in them.

Hinata slid into her fighting stance as she watched her cousin's approach. As the strikes from the enraged boy started flying, Hinata calmly dodged around them and deflected the ones she couldn't dodge. It was like watching a fire trying to engulf a river as Neji attacked and Hinata flowed around his strikes.

Up on the balcony, Sakura noticed that Hinata wasn't fighting back, "Why is she just dodging and blocking? Shouldn't she try to fight?"

With a smile of pride on his face, Naruto answered, "Because this is the style of fighting Hinata-chan made to specifically fight other Hyuuga's." Naruto saw the looks of confusion he was getting from the other Konoha genin and decided to explain. "While we were training, the rest of us noticed that when Hinata-chan used the normal jūken fighting style she was rigid and stiff, we also saw that it doesn't really emphasize defense. Hinata-chan told us she had trouble using that style since it is so different from her personality. So, we decided to help her make a new style of jūken that uses flexibility and speed while also specializing in defense. Hinata-chan will wait for Neji to wear himself out and then strike hard."

Kurenai was also smiling with pride as she watched her adopted daughter, _'You really have changed Hinata-chan, due in no small part to Naruto-kun here.'_

Down in the fight, Hinata couldn't help but mentally smile and laugh with glee. Not only was she easily evading her cousin's strikes, but Neji had yet to even land a hit on her. To be perfectly honest it was almost ridiculously easy to dance around his attacks since she had been developing this fighting style with Anko; and really, the only genin present that could probably match a jounin in straight-up speed was Lee.

Hinata took advantage of Neji's growing frustration and launched her attack when she noticed he had left his right side open. She spun around his next strike and followed through with a kick, supercharging her leg with chakra, which sent Neji flying.

Neji managed to right himself in mid-air just in time to land on his feet, but fell to his knees as a coughing fit overtook him. _'What was that?! She shouldn't be this strong! It was her fate to always be a weak little coward,'_ Neji thought to himself as he tried to get his breathing under control.

"Don't tell me that's all you got Hyuuga-san," Hinata taunted with a small smirk. "If so, then this will be easier than I thought."

Neji just growled in anger as he pushed himself back to his feet and rushed back into the fight.

Hinata continued to gracefully dance around his attacks, waiting for an opening to present itself. The ex-Hyuuga suddenly launched into a roundhouse kick that slammed into the side of Neji's head to leave him dazed long enough for Hinata to come in with a supercharged jab to the gut. Neji once again flew backwards from his cousin's power-filled attack, colliding with the wall as an audible 'crack' echoed in the arena.

Hinata watched her cousin struggle to breathe as he lied there on the floor with an apathetic expression on her face. Suddenly she shook her head, "This fight is over cousin. Several of your ribs are broken and to fight on would almost certainly end your life. You cannot win this fight." With that, Hinata turned and walked away while Hayate proclaimed her to be the winner of the match and called for medics to come collect Neji.

At the sight of Hinata of all people dismissing him like he was nothing more than a piece of trash Neji felt something inside him snap. With a cry of rage, Neji unknowingly forced open the first of the Eight Heavenly Gates. With hands covered in flame-like chakra, Neji rushed forward faster than he ever had before.

Hinata spun around at Neji's rage-filled shout and felt her eyes widen at what she saw. It took only an instant for her to realize that she wouldn't be able to dodge her cousin's attack and braced herself for the hit to come. Unnoticed by the fighters in the arena, there was an explosion of killing intent from the balcony followed by an audible 'phwoom'.

Suddenly, Naruto was between the two.

Neji only had time to take in a pair of blood-red eyes before a spinning orb of chakra was slammed into him. Neji couldn't even cry out in pain as Naruto released his control of the Rasengan and sent Neji flying back into the wall, forming a small crater as he did so.

With a feral growl that sounded more animal than human, Naruto started to advance forward as red-hued chakra began to bubble out and cover his skin in a miasmic-like aura. The red chakra began to form fox-like ears and a tail as it solidified, while a truly impressive amount of killing intent began to leak out from the blonde-haired shinobi. However, Naruto hadn't gotten far before he found his way blocked by his brethren of burden.

"_**Move,"**_ Naruto growled out, his hands clenching and unclenching in an attempt to keep his bloodlust from spiraling too far out of control.

Kira, in a rare moment of firm intent, answered, "Killing him would serve no purpose Naruto. Now calm yourself." At that moment, he activated his own bijuu cloak and jumped straight to eight tails to show his dominance. "Or I will make you."

Everyone watching could feel the power being generated by the two superpowers squaring off in the arena below. As they looked on though, they couldn't help but notice the difference between the two Jinchuuriki. Whereas Naruto's aura was chaotic and constantly emanating killing intent, Kira's was controlled and radiated a feeling of cool confidence.

Gaara was barely a blip on the radar as he decided to get out of the way in case the two stronger containers ended up throwing down.

"Naruto…please stop."

The Konoha-born jinchuuriki turned to look back at Hinata, who was gazing at him with an expression of loving concern. The lavender-eyed girl gently reached up and placed a hand on her love's cheek, surprising everyone as her hand passed through the chakra shell generated by the Kyuubi. The red chakra slowly changed to blue where Hinata's hand was, the process continuing over the rest of Naruto's body as the shell of chakra began to dissolve. Off to the side, Kira also let his bijuu cloak dissolve.

When the last of the chakra shell had disappeared, Naruto wrapped his arms around the lavender-eyed girl. "I couldn't let him hurt you," he whispered.

"I know," Hinata softly whispered back as she returned the hug. Together the two made their way back up to the balcony as a group of medic-nin removed Neji from the wall and took him away.

Up in the balcony, Naruto was approached by Kira.

"Naruto, I know you probably haven't received the same level of training I have to control the bijuu inside of us but you must always be careful. Part of the reason why the Bijuu were so strong is that they can boost their power using their emotions. Until you can learn to control the beast inside of you, whenever you experience an extreme level of emotion like you did now you will lose yourself to the power that will overcome you. Trust me when I say you do not ever want that to happen," the jinchuuriki of the eight-tails stated.

Naruto slowly nodded as he took in what he was just told, "I understand, but like you said I haven't had all that much training to control the Kyuubi's power. Heck, I didn't even know I was a container until about six months ago." Naruto nodded down at the arena, where one of Kabuto's teammate was facing off against one of the Iwa-nin. "Thanks for keeping me from doing something stupid Kira-san."

"Ahh, it was no trouble Mr. Nine," Kira replied with a wave of his hand, his carefree attitude returning. "Despite his actions it wasn't that foo's time to die. And there's no need to use the 'san', just call me Kirābī little man. Or even just Bī (bee), cuz I float like a butterfly and sting faster than you can see! Weeee!"

Naruto just laughed, even as the two were receiving some odd looks from Kirābī's rapping.

"Shousha, Toriyama Kurogane!" Hayate shouted, bringing everyone's attention back to the arena to see that the Iwa-nin had beaten his opponent. Kabuto's bleeding teammate was taken away by a group of medic-nin while everyone looked up at the board to see who the next combatants would be.

_Sabaku no Temari vs. Akimichi Chouji_

This fight was definitely lackluster compared to some of the previous ones, although most of the Konoha genin got a small laugh in after Asuma had bribed his student to fight with the promise of taking him to his favorite barbeque joint once the second exam was finished.

Unfortunately the match was very brief, even with Chouji putting up a somewhat valiant effort. The robustly proportionate teen tried to end things quickly by going into his Ninkuda Shenshin form, intent on literally crushing his opponent. What he didn't count on was Temari almost lazily pulling out her fan as she sidestepped Chouji's reckless charge. As soon as he had passed her the Suna kunoichi swung her fan to release of tremendous gust of wind that sent Chouji on an uncontrolled flight into the wall.

When the dust died down, a swirly eyed Chouji could be seen lying amongst the rubble.

Stifling a small chuckle, Hayate gestured to the fighter still standing, "Shousha: Sabaku no Temari." The blonde-haired kunoichi from the desert gave a short respectful nod before she folded up her fan and made her way back to the balcony. Meanwhile, Asuma collected his unconscious student and brought him back up as well.

After glancing up at the electronic board, Hayate called out, "Will Yamauchi Karui and Higurashi Tenten please make their way forward?!" There was silence, aside from the cheering of Gai and Lee, as the bun-haired Konoha kunoichi and the final member of the Kumo team descended down the steps of the balcony.

When the two kunoichi finally stood across from each other, Karui wasted no time in drawing her long katana and shifting into her fighting stance. A glint seemed to appear in Tenten's eyes as she pulled out one of her many scrolls before flinging it open. Without pause the Konoha-born kunoichi bit her thumb hard enough to release a drop of blood which she quickly swiped across a seemingly random kanji on her scroll. A brief cloud of smoke heralded the arrival of two metallic tonfa while, with the flick of her wrist, the scroll was rolled back up and stored away.

Tenten plucked the twin tonfa out of the air and spun them around as she settled into her own ready stance, grinning viciously as small blades erupted out of both ends of her tonfa.

Hayate was unable to speak for a moment as a brief coughing fit overwhelmed him. After clearing his throat, he turned his attention back to the two combatants. "Are both fighters ready? Then, hajime!" he called after getting a nod from both of the femme fatales.

Karui immediately rushed forward, an action mirrored by Tenten as the two collided with a 'clang' of steel on steel. They held this pose for a couple seconds as both strained to overpower the other, but leapt back when they realized neither would fold. The two kunoichi began to exchange a series of blows, a staccato of music made from the collisions of their weapons.

Karui suddenly disengaged from the melee, going through a quick series of one-handed handseals as she did so. Small bolts of lightning lit up along her fingers which she ran along her blade to transfer the jutsu to her weapon. The kumo kunoichi quickly returned to the fight as she clashed with Tenten, raising an eyebrow when the bun-haired kunoichi didn't so much as twitch.

Tenten just smirked as she said, "Rubber grips." Karui scowled as the combat resumed, each kunoichi trying their hardest to find a gap in the other's defenses to exploit.

Tenten abruptly broke away from her opponent, tossing one of her tonfa in the air, and reached into her pouch. She did a small twirl as she tossed out a salvo of smoke bombs, coating her immediate area with a thick cloud of black smoke. The red-haired kunoichi of kumo didn't let that stop her though as she used a low-powered futon jutsu to promptly disperse the obstacle and rushed forward as soon as her target was in sight.

However Karui was met with total surprise when she passed right through Tenten, who faded from view, and suddenly found herself wrapped in ninja wire as her sword fell from her hands. The kumo kunoichi tried to wriggle out of the wire, only to find said task impossible.

"The Bushin no jutsu might be one of the most useless techniques in the ninja's arsenal," Tenten casually stated as she stepped out of the last of the dispersing smoke cloud, "But in the heat of battle they can make a good distraction." The brunette weapon-user leisurely sauntered up to her opponent and held a simple kunai to her throat, but didn't make any move to go any further.

Hayate nodded and gestured to the two fighters, "Shousha: Higurashi Tenten." With a flick of her wrist, Tenten cut through the ninja wire and handed the katana back to Karui who accepted it with a nod of thanks.

Karui grinned and held out a hand to Tenten, "I look forward to sparring against you in the future, and next time I won't be taken down by that little trick."

The bun-haired kunoichi returned the grin and shook her opponents hand, "Same here and I'll be sure to come up with something else to beat you." The two girls shared a good-natured, competitive laugh as they rejoined their respective teams, receiving congratulations from their comrades on the fight.

On the other side of the room the board flashed one again and stopped on the names of the next two fighters.

_Uzumaki Naruto vs. Nara Shikamaru_

Upon seeing his name up on the board and who he was going against, Shikamaru lazily raised a hand and called out, "Proctor, I wish to forfeit. There's no way I'm fighting that troublesome blonde."

Naruto just laughed in reply, "Somehow I knew you would say that Shikamaru. Seriously, I'd bet you wouldn't even breathe if it wasn't required for living."

The Nara just shrugged, "What can I say? I enjoy living easy." This, of course, prompted more laughter from Naruto.

Quite a few people sweat-dropped at the conversation.

Hayate gave a small cough into his elbow as he nodded, "Very well then. Shousha by forfeit: Uzumaki Naruto. Now then, would the final two genin please enter the arena?"

Gaara was the first down, arriving in his signature Suna Shushin, while the last member of the team from Iwa made his way down as well. The two stood across from each other, Gaara's expression blank while the Iwa genin was grumbling about who he was fighting.

Hayate spared both genin a short look as he asked, "Are both competitors ready to begin?" The two young shinobi nodded. "Very well then, hajime!"

The genin from Iwa was the first to act as he slammed both of his fists into the arena floor, only to pull them to reveal them covered in gauntlets of stone. He banged the stone fists together as he shouted, "Well?! You gonna just stand there or are we gonna fight?!"

Gaara's only response was to tilt his head slightly, deafening silence his answer.

This enraged the Iwa-nin, who shouted as he rushed forward to crush his opponent. If one looked close enough, they would spot the tiniest of a smirk on Gaara's face. Those watching were surprised when the Iwa genin plowed straight through Gaara who exploded in a torrent of sand that speedily enveloped the foolish genin. The cocooned shinobi was raised up to the ceiling before he was turned upside-down and slammed hard into the concrete floor several times, the sand dispersing after the final slam to reveal one knocked-out Iwa-nin.

Gaara reappeared in a small tornado of sand; his arms crossed lazily over his chest, and uttered two words, "Flawless Victory."

With a raised eyebrow, Hayate gestured towards the Suna genin, "Shousha: Sabaku no Gaara." While the unconscious genin from Iwa was carted off by a group of medic-nin, Hayate looked up to the balcony. "With that the preliminaries are now complete. Would all of the winners please make their way down to stand before the statue?" Each of the victors made their way down to the appointed spot in the own fashion, forming a single line before the Hokage and the jounin senseis.

Hiruzen took a short minute to observe the group before allowing a small smile to spread across his lips as he nodded, "Congratulations Shinobi. That you stand here now instead of your peers speaks very highly of your skills. However your trials are not over with just yet. In one month, exactly thirty-one days, we shall hold the final round of the Chunin Exam. There you will place your skills on display before visiting parties from all over the Elemental Nations in an attempt to not only prove you are worthy of promotion, but also to demonstrate the strength of the Village you represent." The Sandaime paused a moment, savoring the feeling of his oratory skills being put to use. "You know now who your opponents might be, but you shall not learn who they will be until you stand in the arena. So train, prepare, and ready your minds as well as your bodies for the conflict that will come. You are dismissed." With that, the Hokage seamlessly vanished in a thick cloud of smoke.

Chatter began to break out, the genin teams formed up and made their way out of the Forest of Death, their jounin senseis leading the way.

**~~~~~ { The Next Day} ~~~~~**

An extremely pensive Naruto could be seen purposefully making his way to the Hokage Tower with one Sabaku no Gaara striding alongside him. The reason for his unusual mood could be traced back to the information Gaara had shared with him scant hours ago.

An invasion by Suna and Oto.

It didn't take the two long to make it to the Hokage's office, both genin easily ignoring the secretary as they entered the room to find the aged leader relaxing with his favorite pipe as he looked out at the village. He kept his serene posture even as he turned to address the two genin.

"Ah Naruto-kun, and Sabaku-san, good morning to the both of you," the Sandaime greeted with slight nod of the head, but then took notice of the serious expression on his surrogate grandson's face. "I take it this is not a social call."

Naruto shook his head in reply, "Afraid not Jiji. We've got some big news and could use some super heavy privacy here." There was a flash in the room, as a series of seal arrays faded into existence.

Sarutobi turned his full attention to the two genin standing before him, "Now then, what is it you wish to tell me?"

Naruto gestured for Gaara to take center stage, which the redhead did after a brief nod. "Otogakure no Sato plans to invade Konoha with aid from Suna," Gaara stated, wasting no time in getting straight to the point.

Surprisingly, Hiruzen made no outward expression other than to slightly nod his head, "Yes. I received similar information not too long ago." Without further ado, a section of the wall seemed to simmer before revealing a giant of a man standing there.

This man had long, spiky white hair that fell down to his lower back, stopped by the giant scroll that was also situated there. His clothing put one more in mind of a kabuki dancer than a ninja, though this did not stop him from being recognized by shinobi everywhere throughout the elemental nations. This man was simply known as Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin of Konoha and the last (officially) loyal member of the Densetsu no Sannin.

"Yo Ero-sennin," Naruto lazily greeted.

Jiraiya nodded back, "Good to see ya too gaki." The white-haired Sannin then turned his attention over to Gaara, "And just what was your role supposed to be in this little shindig?"

"During my fight, there will be a genjutsu that will be put in place on the stands meant to render as many people unconscious as possible. At that time I'm supposed to knock myself out so that the Bijuu inside of me can take over and manifest itself physically so that it can go on a rampage through the village, doing as much damage as possible. That is the only portion of the plan I was made privy to," Gaara explained in his usual monotone.

Jiraiya gave a little hum, "Well that matches what I was able to find out. Not to mention that a couple groups of Oto shinobi will use prepared summoning scrolls to call forth giant snakes to break down sections of our wall so that a larger force can then attack us from the outside. Meanwhile a smaller group is to sneak into the arena stands disguised and wait for the genjutsu to start before they launch their attack. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out just where Orochimaru is going to be while this is all going on." The student paused to give a significant look to his teacher, "But if he's still anything like what I remember, he's going to want to be at the center of the action."

"I agree," Hiruzen stated with a nod. "I'll call in Shikaku tomorrow to develop a counter-attack strategy based on the information you've gathered Jiraiya. I want you there as well to go over the details." The Toad Sannin gave his teacher a small nod.

Naruto cleared his throat to bring some attention his way. "If this is going to be as big as everybody is saying, then I should be bringing something big to the table as well," the blonde-haired jinchuuriki stated before slamming a kunai point first into the desk and not just any kunai.

A tri-pointed kunai.

~~~~~{**End Chapter**}~~~~~

**Unknown-nin345: Ugh, Finally! I can't believe how long this took me to type up and I sincerely apologize for taking this long. Next chapter is gonna be us jumping forward to the Chunin Exam Finals and the start of the Oto/Suna Invasion. **

**Thanks go out to everyone who's stuck with me this far and also to those who continue to stick with me as the story progresses.**

**Bonus Translations:**

Gekiryuu Kata: Kenkon Gachan = Raging Stream Style: Heaven and Earth Slam  


**Rensei Tobikomi = Drilling Dive  
**


End file.
